Trading Partners
by Gray Requiem
Summary: The students of Beacon Academy can only patiently and anxiously wait for summer break to arrive as they near the end of the semester. However, before they can leave for vacation, a certain combat class of Glynda Goodwitch will be receiving a surprise final exam. Two teams in particular, RWBY and JNPR, will learn more about each other than they have before. Some more so than others.
1. Late Start

Ch. 1 Late Start

"Yang." spoke a low, calm feminine voice.

"Seems she's not wanting to wake up." she whispered to someone.

"Here, let me try." replied a haughty, higher pitched tone.

"Yang!" yelled out the same voice that spoke. "Hmm that didn't seem to work either."

"Step aside, friends. I got this." declared a lively, younger sounding voice. "YANG!"

A blonde haired girl still dressed in her street clothes stirred violently from her sleep and sat up on her bed. "Huh?! What?! What is it?!" spoke an alarmed Yang as her eyes attempted to adjust to the morning light. Once she could finally see, Yang realized it was Ruby, Blake, and Weiss all staring at her.

"Glad to see you're finally awake, sis." Ruby said with a grin.

"We thought you were going to sleep in all day." added in the faunus girl.

"And…" Yang took a moment to give a long yawn. "Why shouldn't I? It's the weekend already." spoke the blonde girl as she relaxed and fell back into bed.

"Actually, it's not. Today is Friday, and you're about to be late for class." Weiss pointed out as a matter of fact.

"Wait, WHAT?!" cried out Yang as she hurriedly launched out of her bunk. "I could've sworn today was Saturday. Crap, crap, crap. I'm gonna be late again." thinking out loud as the blonde brawler rummaged through her clothes for her school uniform.

"That's what you get for staying out late partying again." said Weiss in a motherly tone as she wagged her finger in the air.

"Give me a break, Weiss. It's me and it's near the end of the semester, how can I not be out celebrating?" replied Yang as she started to swap out her clothes.

"Well considering how many tardies and absences you've had, you can't exactly afford to be late anymore. Otherwise, the school might force you to take summer school to make up for all the classes you've missed. And none of us want that for you." stated Blake as she noted her concern for her friend.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. And that would be sooo lame."

"Sooo for the last two weeks of school no more missing class or showing up late, got it?"

"Got it." answered back Yang to her sister as she adjusted her school jacket.

"And no more partying either." added in Weiss. "At least until you're done." She smiled at the end of her statement.

"Fine, fine, you guys got me. I promise to stay focused on school until it's all over. There, I said it, happy?" replied Yang with her usual cocky smirk.

"Yep, now hurry up, slowpoke. We waited for you all morning." Ruby teasingly stuck her tongue out at her sister.

Yang grabbed her schoolbag and proceeded to head out the door with her teammates. "Hey, how come you guys didn't try to wake me up earlier by shaking me or something?"

"We've tried that before and you're as grouchy as an Ursa in the morning, or Weiss when she hasn't had enough beauty sleep."

"Hey!"

"Anyways, the last time we tried to you knocked all three of us to the other side of the room." explained Blake.

"Would you say that I was… un'bear'able in my sleep?"

Yang's fellow team members gave unamused glances to their friend's usual humor.

"It's way too early for that." cried out Weiss.

"Hey, I know." suggested the team leader. "I'll race you guys to class."

"Umm pass."

"Ruby, you beat us every time anyways."

"What? No, I don't." scoffed the silver-eyed girl trying to be cool. "I won't even use my Semblance. What about you, Yang? Yang?" Ruby looked in the direction of her sister to find her already gone. "Where'd she go?"

"You're way behind, sis!" called out the blonde haired girl who was already near the end of the hallway sticking her tongue out to her.

"I'll get you, Yang!" confidently answered back the young huntress as she began to bolt towards her sister.

"Are we really doing this?"

"It sure looks that way."

"Fine." said the heiress grudgingly.

"It should be fun." spoke the cat faunus with a smile.

Weiss simply smiled back as her and Blake also started sprinting through the campus to catch up with their friends. So begins a late but energetic start for Team RWBY's morning.


	2. Early Bird

Ch. 2 Early Bird

 **A couple hours before Team RWBY were up.**

The calming sounds of a flute softly hummed out from a device on an end table. The gentle music played a few moments longer before a hand finally reached for it and shut it off. The hand brought the device to its owner face and pushed a button to unlock it. Bright magenta eyes opened to look at the projected light. The digital clock showed that it was 6:00 am.

'Time to get up.' thought the owner of the vibrant eyes.

Without wasting another moment, a long black haired boy sat up from his mattress and let out a quiet yawn. He proceeded to silently get out from under his covers and then make up his bed. The young huntsman looked over to his fellow roommates who continued to sleep soundly as he worked away. He smiled at the peaceful sleeping forms of Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha. The young man awake so early in the morning is Lie Ren, the other member of Team JNPR. Ren had gotten into the habit of getting up earlier than the rest of his teammates especially when it came to Fridays. To not disturb any of his teammates, he made sure to set an alarm soft enough to only wake him up. Ren had a certain routine that he always liked to follow on these special days.

As soon as everything was made up, Ren grabbed his already prepared bathroom supplies and school uniform from last night and headed to one of the lobbies in the dorms. Once there, the black haired boy set his duffel bag of items aside and began his morning routine. He let himself relax a bit with some slow breathing exercises then did some stretches followed by practicing a few martial art stances. After he was done, Ren went to take a quick shower. So far, the routine was pretty normal for him except for what he did after he got done showering. The young man quickly looked over himself to make sure he appeared presentable then headed back to his team's room. He briefly glanced at his scroll as he walked back. The time was now 6:30 am.

'Still on schedule.' Ren happily thought to himself. 'They should be waking up soon.'

Quietly as he left, Ren reentered the room and put his duffel bag of things away. The young huntsman then quickly wrote out a note and placed it on the door before leaving one more time. He made his way over to the cafeteria, giving his usual greeting of a simple wave to the staff as he went to the back. Ren had been there enough times that they knew what he was doing. In the past, he had helped them above and beyond what was required of him so they didn't mind letting him roam as he wished, just as long as he cleaned up after himself. The dark haired boy put on an apron, gathered up the ingredients he needed, washed his hands, and then got to work.

* * *

A loud rock song rift fills the room as Jaune's scroll goes off.

" _ **Listen up, strap in, notify your next of kin,**_

 _ **You're about to take a ride a little on the blazing side,**_

 _ **Guzzle down your Red Bull, you're gonna need a bucket full,**_

 _ **You're watching me accelerate and tear apart the interstate."**_

"Jaune. Jaune, your scroll." called out Pyrrha sleepily.

" _ **A certified monster I'm an absolute trip,**_

 _ **Like Otis Redding, hard to handle so you better get a grip,**_

 _ **A super-fast, superfly, bonafide wise guy.**_

 _ **Call the morgue and say goodbye, write your will; it's time to die."**_

"Heh, what'd you say, Pyrrha?"

" _ **Caffeine! I'm caffeine.**_

 _ **Caffeine! I'm caffeine."**_

"Your alarm is going off on your scroll." said the red haired girl more composed this time as she sat up in her bed and let out a stretch.

"Oh." yawned Jaune as he shifted in bed. "I'll get it. Just let me find it first."

Without looking, the blonde leader instinctively attempted to reach in the direction of where the music was coming from. He felt his finger touch part of his device and reached out farther for it. "A little more."

"Almost… got it. Aaahhh!" cried out the young man as he crashed into the floor with his scroll in hand. "Ouch."

"Jaune!" declared Pyrrha as she stood up and went over to her friend. "Are you all right?"

"Oh me?" replied Jaune as he quickly got up and tried to compose himself. "I'm fine, I'm fine, just peachy aha. Just thought I should start my morning off by greeting the floor."

Pyrrha gave a kind hearted laugh in response. "Well I'm glad you're not hurt." She said as she gently brushed off Jaune's shoulders. As she did, the female warrior looked over to Nora. "I'm more surprised Nora didn't wake up from any of that."

"Yeah, me too. I'm sure she will soon though. Today's Friday which means Ren is already up and at the cafeteria making pancakes—"

"PANCAKES!"

"Oh no…"

"Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!" exclaimed Nora as she exploded off her bed directly into her closet. Not a moment later, she cheerfully returned fully dressed in her school outfit. "Ready for pancakes!"

"How did she…"

"I've learned to just stop questioning it." remarked Pyrrha with an awkward smile.

"Come, my minions! To the Pancake Kingdom!"

"Nora… we're not even dressed for school yet."

"Or have washed up yet either."

"Then let's hurry this up, come on Pyrrha." answered back the strong bubbly girl as she excitedly grabbed her friend by the arm and began leading her to the bathing facilities.

"I need to grab my things for the bathroom and my clothes for class."

"I'm on it." In a flash, Nora gathered together Pyrrha's uniform and was back to her. "We're all set." Without wasting anymore time, Nora started taking Pyrrha to the bathrooms once again.

"Oh Jaune!" called out the cheerful girl in a singsongy tone before reaching for the door. "I expect you to be ready by the time we get back or… suffer the consequences! Okay?"

The blonde leader swallowed a gulp. "Eh okay."

"Oh. Ren left a note for us." spoke up Pyrrha.

"Ooh, what does it say?"

"Breakfast will be ready by 7:15. – Ren"

"We have plenty of time then." stated Jaune trying to calm down Nora's hastiness.

"P.S. Jaune, don't forget to put your shoes on again."

"Hey, that only happened last time!"

After laughing briefly, Pyrrha brought her attention back to her female friend. "See Nora, we don't need to rush. It's only 6:45." said the red haired warrior trying to calm down some of the bubbly girl's eagerness for breakfast.

"I know, I know, but I'm just so excited!"

"It'll be okay, we'll be ready. Now, I'll be fine going to the bathroom on my own."

"Aha, right." replied Nora as she let go of her teammate's arm, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"You better get going too, Jaune." spoke Pyrrha with a warm smile before taking her leave from the room.

"Oh right, on my way." responded the blonde boy as he got his bathroom products and clothes together then proceeded soon after to the men's showering area.

"Okay then, I'll just be waiting here, thinking about pancakes. Delicious, delicious, pancakes and warm tasty syrup…" stated Nora as she daydreamed and her mouth began to water.

Not long afterwards, both Jaune and Pyrrha made it back to the dorm room. Together, the other three members of Team JNPR headed over to the cafeteria to have breakfast with Ren.


	3. Breakfast Chats

Ch. 3 Breakfast Chats

"Om nom, amf mmmmm."

"Nora, you should try slowing down or you'll choke." Pyrrha caringly suggested as she watched her friend stuff pancake after pancake into her mouth.

"Nah, she'll be fine. It's not like she hasn't done this before." stated Jaune before taking a bite of his own breakfast.

"I know, it's just that I…" paused the female warrior as she observed Nora pouring syrup down her mouth with pancakes still in it before finally chewing for a bit then swallowing it all in one gulp. "…can't help but be concerned."

"Nora has always been like that ever since we were kids." spoke Ren with a small smile. "It's nothing to worry about."

The orange haired huntress paused a moment to contain a large belch then looked over to her longtime friend. "More please."

"Of course." responded Ren as he placed a few more pancakes on Nora's plate.

"Thank you!" declared Nora as she returned her attention to her food.

"If you say so, I'll believe you, Ren." smiled Pyrrha.

"So any of you guys have plans for the summer?"

Hearing Jaune's words, the other members of JNPR paused to consider what they were going to do during the break.

"Hmm, I think I'll be going back to Mistral for a bit. To visit and catch up with some old friends and teachers. Then afterwards, probably head back to Beacon and spend the rest of my time here at the dorms until school starts up again. I'm pretty simple and boring, I guess." spoke the red haired girl as she scratched the back of her head. "What about you, Jaune?"

"I don't think yours is boring. Getting to go back to Mistral sounds pretty cool."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, and I'm sure it'll be more fun than what I'm doing. I'm just heading back home to spend time with my family."

"That sounds really nice."

"It is, but… you're not the uncle that gets dogpiled on by all my nieces and nephews. Along with getting teased, babied, and in general having to deal with my seven sisters. It's not exactly what I'd call fun and exciting. Plus it's no Mistral, just the same old part of Vale I've grown up in almost my entire life."

"Maybe…" Pyrrha briefly looked away trying to think of the right things to say then brought her attention back to Jaune, doing her best to hide the blush on her gentle face. "Maybe one day, you and I… we could go to Mistral… together."

"Really?! You mean it?"

"Yes, I do." answered back Pyrrha feeling as though her face was growing even redder.

"That sounds great! I am so excited for this! I'll have to make sure and get ready with all the things I'll need like my favorite coat, my traveling hat, my lucky underw–"

Ren raised a hand to try to calm his friend down. "I don't think she means that you guys will be doing that this summer break."

"Oh yeah, I knew that. It's just, I want to plan ahead you know. I'm so excited about getting to go on a trip to Mistral, just me and Pyr…" as he was about to finish the last of his sentence the thought of what was implied suddenly came to his mind. "…rha."

'Wait, it'll just be me and Pyrrha. Just the two of us. Alone. With no one else around. At all… I mean, what could happen… we could, umm… I, I, I…'

The female warrior began waving her hand in front of her leader's awkwardly frozen crimson face. "Jaune, Jaune, are you alright?"

Snapping back into reality, the blonde young man returned his attention to his teammates. "Just fine. Eh ha. Just fine." spoke Jaune as he tried to not think about the fantastical thoughts running through his head. "I'm sure we'd have a lot of fun, Pyrrha." he stated with a caring smile to his huntress partner.

"I think we would too." Pyrrha replied with a smile and blush while shyly looking away.

Realizing the awkward tension between him and Pyrrha in the air, Jaune tried to casually focus back on his other friends with the original question he asked in the first place. "What about you guys? Any plans for the summer? Have some families to go see?"

Both Ren and Nora nervously looked away upon hearing the last part of their leader's questioning. They brought their eyes to meet one another's and it almost seemed like they were speaking between each other without actually saying anything. Only a small moment passed by before one of them finally said something. Forcing an awkward grin, Nora was the first to look back to Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Well, we…" began the orange haired huntress calmly but trailed off like her mind was elsewhere but not in her usual Nora manner. She actually looked kind of somber and gloomy.

"What she means to say…" interjected the other member of JNPR in a calm and composed demeanor. "Is Nora and I plan on just staying here at Beacon for the duration of the summer. We really have nothing else planned aside from that." As Ren said those words, it almost seemed liked he was doing his best to not reveal something else.

"Are you sure about that?" asked the red haired girl skeptically.

"I'm sure." stated Ren in a stoic tone as he looked toward the ground. After he spoke, it felt like the whole room went dead silent.

Almost knowingly, Pyrrha reached out and placed a hand on each of her friends. "Well if that's the case, then I'll make sure to come back from my trip early so we can spend some more free time together before school starts."

Upon hearing those words, Ren and Nora turned their heads away from where they were looking and immediately brought their attention to their warrior friend. Nora's mood lightened and she instantly perked back up. "Really? Do you mean that?"

"Of course I do. If that's okay with the two of you."

"Of course it is!" declared the bubbly girl with her usual tone as she brought Pyrrha into an excited and overly enthusiastic hug. "Right, Ren?"

"Right." responded the young huntsman with a nod and a grin.

"I'll be there too." declared Jaune cheerfully. "As soon as I'm done visiting my family, I'll make my way back here so we can all hang out together."

"And we'd be glad to have you." spoke Ren to his fellow male roommate.

"Hooray, Team JNPR! We stick together like syrup and pancakes!" shouted out Nora as she brought the other two members into her loving embrace with Pyrrha. However, she kind of forgot how strong she was and didn't exactly realize how tight she was squeezing all of them.

"Too tight, too tight…" huffed Pyrrha.

"I can't breathe…" choked out Jaune.

"Nora…" gasped Ren.

The orange haired huntress seemed like she was far too preoccupied and overwhelmed with excitement to recognize how much discomfort she was causing her friends at the moment. "I feel so happy right now! I don't want to ever let go!"

"NORA!" yelled the other members of JNPR with the last of their strength.

"Whoops." spoke Nora as she released them from her vise-grip where they all dropped onto the floor. "Sorry."

"It's okay, Nora." answered Ren first while trying to catch his breath.

"Just be careful next time." added the female warrior.

With his face still planted on the floor, Jaune raised a hand with his finger pointing up. "And please don't try to kill us again."

"I promise!"

After they were all back to their feet, Ren's eyes looked over to the clock in the cafeteria. "We should clean up now then head to class. We wouldn't want to be late."

Team JNPR quickly gathered up their plates and utensils then proceeded to swiftly clean up and put them all away. Afterwards, they began to head towards the classrooms for the coming school day. Once they arrived, the team members started to chat once more about what classes they were about to head to.

With his hands on his head and his elbows bowing out, Jaune took a moment to let out a small huff. "I have history with Oobleck, I'm gonna be so bored."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." assured Pyrrha with a kind grin. "Nora and I have botany with Professor Peach. I think we'll be doing an experiment with the red sap from the Forever Fall forest today. Well as long as Nora doesn't eat any of it."

"I'll do my best to not eat all of it." The group laughed for a bit at her comment.

"What about you, Ren?" wondered the blonde huntsman.

"Grimm studies with Professor Port. My class is just finishing up the last of our research papers for the semester."

Suddenly, Team JNPR could hear a loud commotion approaching them from the adjacent hallway. They all curiously looked over to the set of shut double doors where the sounds were coming from. The noises were steadily growing closer and closer.

"You guys hear that too, right?" questioned Jaune nervously.

"Sounds like a stampede of Grimm." pointed out Nora.

"Don't even joke about that!" cried out the blond huntsman.

"I wonder what it could be." inquired Pyrrha.

"Hmm, well why don't we go see what it is." stated Ren as he carefully took a few steps towards the door. Reaching his hand out, the dark haired young man grabbed the handle and gently pulled the door open.


	4. Just Another Day

Author's Note: Hello there. I usually don't like putting up things like this, but I felt the need to. I just wanted to say thank you guys for the favorites and follows with this story. I was actually rather surprised with how much notice it got, but I'm grateful for all of it nonetheless.

The only thing I request of you guys though is to possibly leave a review and comment on how you feel about the story so far. Because I can't really tell how you guys are feeling about the whole thing. Is it interesting to you? Is it not? Positives? Negatives? I would just like some feedback to help me.

Once again, you have my thanks. - Gray

* * *

Ch. 4 Just Another Day

"You gotta try harder, baby sister!" taunted Yang as she sprinted through the campus.

"You mean like this!" called out Ruby as she soon caught up to the blonde brawler.

"Not bad, but you're still gonna have to do better than that to beat me."

"Oh yeah? Then prepare to eat my dust! Well not literally, because that would be bad for you, and it would also taste awful. Not that I would know anything about that, like I mean I've never tried it myself. Except maybe that time I accidentally exploded on the first day of school."

"Umm Ruby, what are you trying to say?" asked Yang with a look of confusion.

"What I'm trying to say is… just be prepared to lose!" replied Ruby emphatically. 'I totally saved that. Yeah… oh who am I kidding? I thought too much on that one and I could've come up with a way cooler comeback then that. Next time, Ruby, next time.'

"I don't think either of you have won just yet." stated Blake in midair as she flipped over and gracefully landed right in front of the two sisters. The faunus was now in front of the pack.

"Woah." slowly spoke Ruby and Yang in unison with expressions of awe.

"That was so cool!"

"Nice move, Blake."

"Thanks, Yang. I've been practicing on it." The black haired girl answered back coolly.

"Looks good, doesn't mean you're going to win though." replied the blonde huntress with cockiness showing in her voice.

"Uh huh, why don't we just see then?" retorted Blake with just as much confidence.

"Hey, don't forget about me!" declared a haughty voice from behind the three girls.

Hearing their friend, the other three members of Team RWBY took a moment to look back just as the white haired heiress created a glyph to propel herself past all of them. Yang, Blake, and Ruby simply looked on in surprise as Weiss took the lead.

"I'll be winning this match." spoke Weiss with a confident smirk. For the most part, Weiss didn't like taking part in the childish games that her teammates played. However, when it came to being competitive and wanting to prove herself as being the best, she was more than happy to take on any challenge. The heiress also didn't want to readily admit that she was having as much fun as she did when they all acted like this.

"Hey, no fair! You're using your Semblance!" cried out Ruby.

"As I recall, I never said I wouldn't use my Semblance. Only you did."

"Hmph, fine then. I'll just win even without my Semblance."

"Oh really? I'd like to see you try."

"Just watch me!" exclaimed the silver eyed girl as she burst forth with energy and passed by her friend.

"I thought you said you wouldn't use your Semblance!"

"I never said anything about not using my Aura!" answered back Ruby in a mocking sing songy tone of voice.

"It's so on now." stated Weiss as she allowed her Aura to flow through her, using it to empower herself and catch up with her partner.

"They seem like they're having fun." joked Yang to Blake as they both continued to run.

"It looks like it." joked back the cat faunus.

"But we're not gonna let them show us up now, are we?"

"Of course not."

Within seconds, the other two members of Team RWBY did the same as their friends and used their Auras to keep the race tied up between all of them. The four girls ran at intense speeds all throughout the halls and buildings of Beacon causing some mostly minor destruction and mayhem as they passed. To an outside observer though, the ruckus they were making probably sounded like a train coming off the tracks or unstable Dust being set off. Realizing they were nearing the classrooms, Ruby decided to call out the finish line as she looked down the stretch of entryway before them.

"First one through those doors wins!"

"Fine by me."

"That will be yours truly!"

"Sorry guys, but you're all gonna lose!"

The four huntresses were quickly closing in on the doors and as they reached the halfway point, Yang activated her Semblance. With red eyes and fiery hair, the blonde brawler excelled forward easily gaining the lead from her friends. 'I've so got this in the bag.'

Bursting forth once more, Yang closed in the rest of the distance and prepared herself to go through the doorway. She reached her hands out ready to push the entrance open when she noticed that the doors were beginning to open on their own. Suddenly, she realized the inevitable event about to happen to her, feeling like she was seeing it all happen in slow motion. 'This is probably gonna suck.'

Right as the doors opened, Yang was unable to stop herself from diving headfirst into the body of another person. The only thing she remembered seeing before crashing and burning were a pair of pale magenta eyes. After colliding, the two students were laid out on the tile floor a short distance away from the unclosed doors. Seeing what just happened, three other nearby students rushed over to their fellow classmates in front of the doorway without actually looking back in the direction that Yang came from.

"Yang, why did you just bum-rush Ren?" asked the familiar voice of Jaune.

"Are the both of you alright?" inquired a concerned Pyrrha.

"I give you a 9 out of 10!" declared Nora holding up a scorecard excitedly.

Very shortly after they spoke, a group of feminine voices rang out from behind the three standing members of Team JNPR causing them to turn around.

"WATCH OUT!"

"Oh no…" said Pyrrha wide-eyed.

"This is bad…" remarked the blonde huntsman followed by a gulp.

"Whoopee!" added Nora with her arms spread out wide in the air.

The rest of Team RWBY collided into the members of Team JNPR creating a pileup of tousled limbs and sprawled out bodies. After slamming into each other, the young huntsmen and huntresses took some time to simply lie there and try to recover from their accidental encounter.

"Ouch." spoke out Ruby first as she sat up and rubbed top of her head.

The next one to rise was Blake as she started to softly stroke her sore legs. "That hurt."

Weiss sat up after the cat faunus, massaging her arm as she did so. "Well that was fun."

"It sure was!" exclaimed Nora completely missing the sarcasm in the heiress' comment.

Nora's fellow classmates simply stared at her unamused and in complete disbelief at how uninjured she was from their collision.

With her hand gingerly massaging the back of her neck, the red haired warrior then called out to her friends. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah."

"I think so."

"Mostly."

"I'm good!"

"Umm, not really." stated a slightly muffled Jaune with an arm raised up from amidst the group of female students. "Could you guys get off of me please?"

"Oops, sorry Jaune." apologized Ruby as she got up along with the rest of the huntresses.

After getting back on their feet, Pyrrha and Ruby helped in pulling Jaune up off the floor.

"Thanks guys. And lucky me, this is the second time today I've said hello to the floor." half-joked the blue eyed young man while rubbing his lower back and shoulder.

"You're welcome, Jaune." replied Pyrrha kindly with a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "And don't worry, I'm sure it won't happen again. At least not today."

"Ha ha, very funny." answered back Jaune sarcastically followed by a genuine smile.

"Well I'm glad to see you're okay, Jaune." added in Ruby. "Along with everyone else."

"Speak for yourself." stated an annoyed Weiss. "I'll need a massage along with a day at the spa after this, just so I can forget about how sore I am."

Blake walked over to the heiress and helped brush some dust off her petite shoulders. "Sounds like a good time for all of us to spend together then."

"Ooh, team trip!" spoke up Nora as she brought the rest of them into a group embrace.

Weiss looked at all of her friends' faces for a moment then let her look of displeasure shift into a warm smile. "Yeah, it does sound nice just to relax and hang out with you guys."

"Well it has been a while since we've spent some time together." Pyrrha pointed out.

"We've all been so busy with finals and the end of the semester that we just lose track." spoke Blake in agreeance with Pyrrha.

"So this means mandatory friend time!" commanded the silver eyed leader of RWBY. "No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

"Yay!" exclaimed Nora happily. "Wait, what about yays? Can there be yays?"

"Yes, there can be yays." noted Ruby with a smile to the orange haired girl.

"Awesome!"

"Hey guys, where's Ren?" interjected Jaune.

"And Yang?" question Blake as well.

* * *

A few moments before Yang and Ren's teammates were back to their feet.

"Ugh." let out Ren from the cold tile floor.

"Ow, my head." spoke Yang right after him.

The dark haired huntsman slowly opened his eyes only to be greeted with waves of golden locks directly in his face. Immediately after, Ren recognized that the hair was from someone sprawled out on him. 'Who is on top of me?'

He tried to move himself but only felt his head throb in his attempt to. 'Never mind, I'll just stay here and rest for now. At least their hair smells nice.' contemplated Ren as he picked up on the sweet scent of honey along with a hint of almond. While waiting, he began to wonder who it could be on top of him along with piecing together what just happened, although he wouldn't have to wait all that long.

'Well that didn't suck as much as I thought it would.' considered Yang positively. 'And I didn't get too hurt, other than my head. I think something might've cushioned me.' After that thought crossed her mind, she realized she was directly on top of somebody.

'Oh, so that's what broke my fall. It was just another person.' thought the blonde girl casually to herself. 'I should probably get off of whoever it is, although they are pretty comfy.' Part of her wanted to just stay in that position, but she eventually convinced her body to get up.

Yang pushed herself up off the ground and was now situated on her hands and knees looking down into the same pair of eyes she remembered seeing before completely wiping out. She finally realized who it was that she had barreled into. He simply gazed back at her with his usual stoic expression before she finally spoke to him.

"Oh hey Ren." greeted Yang cheerfully.

The young man's calm face changed to a small grin. "Hi Yang."

"So whatcha doing?"

"Just waiting here on the floor, wondering when you were going to get up." responded Ren in a mildly joking manner.

"Well I'm up, mostly."

His grin grew a little wider after hearing her comment. "So if I may ask, why exactly did you come crashing into me?"

"Oh yeah… that… my bad." answered the blonde brawler with her cheeks becoming flushed from embarrassment. "Well you see we were racing to class and—"

"Wait a moment." interrupted Ren. "We?"

"Me, Ruby, Weiss, Blake. You know the gang."

The dark haired huntsman simply nodded back to her in understanding.

"So the four of us are racing to class and we're almost at the end. I'm tied neck and neck with them so I decide to use my Semblance to reach the finish line first, which just so happened to be the doors you opened. And that's how we ended up here."

"Ah I see." said Ren now fully understanding all that had transpired. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, well most of me at least. I have a killer headache. What about you?"

"Same here. I'm pretty sure our heads collided with each other."

"So you're saying we really 'put our heads together' didn't we?" suggested Yang in her usual tone for when she made a pun.

Hearing Yang's pun actually caused a full on smile to form on Ren's face. As the young huntsman was about to respond, someone else did before he could.

"You two look comfortable." stated Blake in a teasing manner.

Yang and Ren recognized the voice of the cat faunus and both of them looked over in her direction only to see all their friends staring back at them.

"Hey guys." said Ruby with a wave. "Having fun down there?"

They both soon realized the awkward position they were currently in. The blonde brawler was still situated above the dark haired huntsman in what could be perceived as a suggestive manner. A blush immediately formed on both of their faces. Within seconds, Yang got herself off of Ren then back on her feet. After she did, the huntress extended her hand and helped Ren up from the floor as well. The two of them were still slightly red in the face and shyly looking away from each other.

"Uhmm. Well… that was fun." spoke Yang in her normal tone toward everyone else, trying to ease the tension. "And I believe I won so ha!"

"Umm Yang." began Blake. "I think we all lost on this one."

"What do you mean?"

"Just look at us." After her statement, Yang looked her friends up and down seeing their sore and disheveled appearances. Then she remembered herself and her throbbing head. They all looked like the people that left after Yang dealt with them in a club brawl.

"Yeah, I think you're right, Blake. But it was still pretty fun though." Yang said with a smile at the end.

"I agree."

"Me too." chimed in Ruby.

The three members of Team RWBY then looked over to their other teammate Weiss. She paused then gave a friendly smile back at them. "Yeah, it was."

"You guys had fun too, right?" asked the silver eyed girl to Team JNPR.

"Definitely!" shouted out Nora.

"Aside from being a human punching bag… yeah, alright." stated the blonde haired boy with a smile. "Next time though, let's just do something that is less hazardous to my health."

"It was thoroughly entertaining." added in Pyrrha. "Although, I do have to agree with Jaune and his suggestion."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we will next time." commented Blake to them.

"What about you, Ren?" asked Yang who returned eye contact to the boy next to her.

"It was nice, I had fun. I would suggest we do something more constructive next time." stated Ren in his usual tone and with a finger pointed in the direction of the open hallway.

Both teams looked down to see a mess of scattered papers, fallen trashcans, some opened lockers at the end of the hall, and a few other minor damages in the aftermath of their race. In a flash, Ruby had gotten to the doors and closed them, putting her back to the entrance.

"Aha, I'm sure the janitors will take care of all that." voiced the leader of Team RWBY.

"Right." said Ren simply with a nod. "Is everyone alright? Anyone injured?"

They all responded to the young huntsman with generally the same answers they gave to Pyrrha earlier when she questioned everyone's wellbeing.

"What about you two?" asked a concerned red haired warrior.

Yang and Ren merely pointed to their own heads.

"I'm sorry."

"I know the feeling, sis."

"It's okay, I'm sure we'll all be fine in no time." spoke Yang with optimism in response to Pyrrha and Ruby. "Also, I'm sorry." stated the blonde huntress as she looked over to the dark haired boy beside her.

"I didn't mean to 'lie' on you, Ren."

Hearing Yang's pun caused all her friends to react in their own way, mostly negatively, except for Ren who gazed back at her with a smile before replying.

"Funny."

"I personally think so."

"Shouldn't you all be in class by now?" interjected a calm masculine voice from behind the two teams.

"Professor Ozpin." spoke some of the group in unison.

"All of you have less than a minute before the bell rings, so I suggest heading to your classes before you're late." The other part of his statement sounded more like an order than a suggestion, of course that could just be how the headmaster of Beacon Academy sounded normally. "You wouldn't want to have detention with me, now would you?"

Within seconds, the members of Team RWBY and JNPR quickly scrambled and left for their respective classrooms.

"Just another day at Beacon I suppose." spoke Ozpin to himself.


	5. Surprise Exam

Author's Note: Hi again. I wasn't plan on making another one of these, but I just really needed to vent. So I've been working on this chapter for the past 2 weeks all in the late hours of the night/early morning and I was getting really annoyed with how long it was taking me. The main thing was that I couldn't get the dialogue to sound right in my head. I really had to channel my inner college professor in a lot of this. You'll see what I mean when you get to it.

At one point I was getting the voices of Ruby, Nora, and randomly Penny (even though she's not in the story) all scrambled together. So I was going a little crazy...

I'm fine now because I finished it, yay. Also, didn't realize it was way too long until I was already done. So I broke it up into two chapters for everyone. And with the way the chapter after this one ends, I hope it will give you guys an idea on who (just one pair in particular) is "getting together" and where the story is heading. I'm also sorry for the long and slow buildup, that's just how I write sometimes and I'll just try to avoid that as much as I can.

If you've read all this, thank you for listening to me vent. I hope you enjoy reading. - Gray

* * *

Ch. 5 Surprise Exam

Another day of class has started for the students of Beacon Academy. All of them are now attending their usual courses about Remnant's history, Dust utilization, Grimm studies, battlefield tactics, etc. These essential teachings cover all the basics for huntsmen and huntresses in training. Hopefully, these prospective protectors will remember most of these vital lessons whenever they need to apply them in the real world. It comes easier for some than others, and then there are those who don't really put too much of their attention on the subject at hand…

A blonde haired huntress could feel her eyes wanting to close and her body wanting to fall back asleep as she sat there in Professor Port's classroom. 'I am soooo bored.'

The portly teacher's class had started off simple enough with them talking about the research papers they needed to finish up, but then the moustached huntsman got off track again as he usually did. Professor Port was retelling his students another tale of valor from his youth.

'He tells one in almost every single class. And I've heard this one three times already.' thought Yang in frustration as she considered banging her head on the table before remembering how much it still hurt from earlier. She let out an exasperated breath then let her chin drop and rest on the table. 'Someone please make it stop.'

"Professor Port." called out a calm masculine voice from the crowd of seated students.

Hearing the familiar voice, the blonde huntress looked over to the fellow student a few seats away from her. The moustached huntsman also directed his attention to the same student.

"Oh yes, Mr. Lie. What is it?" inquired the professor.

"Could you explain to us the rest of the grading criteria for our research papers?"

"Why certainly, I must've accidentally lost track."

"And…" continued the dark haired young man.

"And?"

"And then could you perhaps help me with citing my sources? I'm not sure if I quoted the source material properly." answered Ren giving a puzzled look.

"I'd be more than happy to help. Just let me finish up talking about the research papers then I'll assist you, my confused pupil."

"Thank you, Professor." spoke the magenta eyed huntsman with a small bow of his head.

"So where was I… oh yes, the papers will account for 20% of your grade…" began Professor Port again.

Yang by this point had glanced back over to the moustached huntsman thankful to see that he was finally talking about something else other than his old war stories. After taking note of that, she then returned her attention to Ren only to see him already staring back at her. Almost knowingly, he gave a smile and a quick wink towards the blonde huntress. She replied with a huge smile and a thumbs-up. 'Thaaank you, Ren. You're a real lifesaver.'

* * *

The rest of school felt like it went by quicker for Yang after Professor Port's class ended. She was back in her usual carefree attitude as the day went on. When the school day was close to finishing, the young huntress' mind couldn't help but wander off to think about how the semester was almost over. The thought of freedom, even if it was only for a short time, made her more eager and excited. Yang was looking forward to all the things waiting for her when summer vacation arrived; these things mainly being back home, getting to spend time with her dad and uncle Qrow, hanging out and travelling with friends, possibly fighting some Grimm here and there, having no schoolwork and partying, and just in general relaxing and enjoying herself. The feeling of it all brought a smile to the blonde brawler's face. There was only one more class with Professor Goodwitch to go before school ended for that week then she could keep daydreaming.

As she was heading to the combat class, Yang caught up with the rest of her teammates.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey there!"

"Hello."

"Hi, Yang."

"So any plans for after school?"

"Well…" spoke up Weiss first. "Do you remember me saying earlier about all of us going out for a massage and a day at the spa?"

"Umm nope, not really." answered back Yang truthfully.

"Really? Because I specifically…" began the heiress before trailing off. She then looked over to her friend with a playful smirk. "Oh wait, I remember now why you don't."

"Weiss, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh it's nothing. It's just… you don't remember me saying that because you were too busy using Ren as a body pillow on the floor."

As she heard the teasing comment from Weiss, Yang couldn't control a blush from showing up on her face. "No I wasn't! He just broke my fall and we both got knocked out."

"With you on top of him." added in the white-haired girl.

"Yeah, so what. I got off of him." replied the blonde brawler trying to keep her cool. 'Eventually.' Yang finished the thought to herself recalling that awkward moment.

"After I got your attention." spoke up Blake. "And the two of you did look really cute together down there."

"Blake!"

"What? I'm just telling you what I saw." teased the black cat faunus.

"Really you guys, nothing happened between me and Ren."

"Uh huh." responded Weiss and Blake nonchalantly in unison.

"I mean it." spoke the blonde girl beginning to lose her patience.

"Yang and Ren." chimed in Team RWBY's leader. "Lying on the floor, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." In her head, Ruby could hear herself thinking back over to what she said after she already said it. 'That doesn't really rhyme… but oh well.'

"Really? You too, Ruby?" asked Yang sounding more annoyed than embarrassed now.

"Everyone else was doing it, and besides, we're just joking with you, sis." replied Ruby as she playfully poked her older sibling's cheek.

"Exactly, it's not like any of us were serious." stated Weiss with a reassuring smile.

"Like they said, we were just having fun." added in Blake with a grin. "Also, it isn't every day we tease Yang Xiao Long about something that actually works on her."

"Yeah, and most of the time we're doing it to Weiss anyways."

"Hey!"

"See what I mean." pointed out Ruby.

The blonde huntress thought over her friends' words for a quick moment before replying to them. "Yeah, I guess you guys are right. I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was getting so worked up. Must be my nerves getting to me, I guess I'm just really wanting school to be out already." stated Yang putting her arms up behind her head.

"It can happen to the best of us." comforted Weiss to her friend. "Well not me of course."

"Don't sweat it, sis."

"Let's not worry about it." reassured Yang's partner. "We'll all get through this semester and then after that, we can spend our time however we want to."

"You're right, thanks guys." responded the blonde brawler with a smile. "Oh and Weiss, about that whole day spa thing, that sounds great, especially after what happened this morning."

"I know, right? Now what I have in mind is that we all start out with a—"

"I think we can talk about that later." politely interjected Blake with a raised hand before the heiress could continue. "We should probably hurry to Goodwitch's class before she chews us out for being late." With that said, Team RWBY then continued on toward the amphitheater.

* * *

"Good afternoon, students." declared a sharp and assertive female voice.

Many of the huntresses and huntsmen answered back accordingly to their professor, Glynda Goodwitch. The current class in session was a combat training course consisting of Teams RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, and other non-specified groups of students. Professor Goodwitch was what many considered to be a quite stern and professional instructor; some might even go so far as to call her a drill sergeant. She pushed her students to do their very best and rarely would any of them go against her teachings. A student that did would usually get off easy with a swat from her riding crop as a warning, the student would behave from then on, and that'd be the end of it. However, for any unlucky enough to push their luck beyond that, they would end up being tossed out from her classroom altogether both metaphorically and literally with her Semblance. Although, that last part is just a rumor. Well… mostly a rumor.

"Now, I know many of you are excited for school coming to an end." began the light haired woman.

Some cheers and other calls of joy erupted throughout the students in the amphitheater.

"Settle down." ordered Goodwitch firmly. Almost immediately, the crowd died down. "Before all of you can even think about any plans for summer break, keep in mind that we still have two more weeks of class left to go. And starting today… a final exam for this course."

A flood of moans and outcries came to life among the mass of huntsmen and huntresses in training, much louder this time than the previous uproar. All that could be heard from the classroom now was a mix of complaints and negative whispers. In response to her students' reactions, Professor Goodwitch brought her crop down onto her desk producing a thunderous sound as she did so. The sound of the table being struck captured everyone's attention and caused the room to become silent once again.

"If you don't wish to take part in the exam, you will leave my classroom at once and then proceed to Headmaster Ozpin's office to hear his input on the matter. I will be there after this class has ended to further discuss your possible continuing education at this academy. Otherwise, stay silent and attentive for the remainder of this class until you are told differently. Am I making myself clear?"

Every single student in Glynda's class simply responded with a silent nod back to her.

"Good, now let's return our focus to the final exam. I'll begin by letting all of you know that the exam will take place exactly a week from now in this very room. As for the exam itself, it will not be written or oral, but rather an assessment of your combat prowess. Be that as it may, this will not be a test of just you alone. This will be a team assignment."

The hearing of those last few words from Goodwitch caused all the students to perk up. Many of them looked over to their corresponding teammates with positive looks on their faces.

"You and a partner will be working together to demonstrate your physical and mental skills for combat. For how you are demonstrating these skills, you will be going against your fellow classmates in a series of matches."

After that comment, the crowd of students started to look around with competitive eyes at one another. It was almost as if they were trying to say that the winners got bragging rights.

"However, the teams will only be competing with the other teams in their assigned group so you will not be facing every team that is in this class. The teams will be graded based on their performances in these matches. It will be similar to our routine training and sparring matches but with a more personalized focus and oversight of each team. Because of that, I will be bringing in other instructors to help with the grading process. This means I will be evaluating only one team personally while the other teams will be graded by my colleagues. Your exam ends when one team has defeated the rest by way of tournament style elimination. If you have any questions, you may ask them to your assigned instructor after I have sorted out your groups. And lastly, this final will account for a third of your grade in this class so it is in your best interest that you study and train for this. Otherwise, if you fail, you will have to make it up by taking a written exam along with completing an essay the following week afterward. Understood?"

The huntresses and huntsmen in training followed along to pretty much everything the light haired professor said, and in particular, focused on her entirely when she told all of them that the exam was worth a third of their grade. Some had demeanors of despair, others with expressions of worry, while the rest just tried to keep their composures intact. After a moment of complete silence, the class finally signaled back to Professor Goodwitch that they understood.

"Since we are in agreement, I will begin assigning you to your instructors. After you are assigned, you will report to them at the designated locations I tell you. Once there, the instructor will give a more detailed explanation about how the exam will be carried out. They will tell you what they are grading you on as well as what they are looking for specifically from you in your assessments. You are to listen and follow their directions as if I myself were there, because they do have the backing of my authority behind them. Now pay attention as I call out names."

As Professor Goodwitch instructed which groups to go where, the number of students dwindled down until only two teams remained in the classroom.


	6. Team Assignments

Ch. 6 Team Assignments

"Team RWBY, Team JNPR, proceed to the stage." ordered Glynda in her usual tone.

The members of both teams quickly made their way down from their seats in the bleachers over to their huntress professor. She stood in the center of the stage looking out to the group of students standing in a line directly in front of her, almost like she was examining them.

"Fortunately for all of you, I will be your instructor for the exam." spoke the light haired woman while keeping her face stern. Some of them showed a smile while others tried to put on a positive appearance. "Any questions before we start?"

They all remained silent for a brief moment before a red haired warrior raised her hand.

"Yes, Ms. Nikos?"

"Just to clarify, Professor Goodwitch, earlier you said 'you and a partner' then this means we will be working in teams of two, right?"

"You are correct, Ms. Nikos."

"So there will be four teams competing against each other."

"Exactly."

"Alright then." stated a blonde haired young man casually. "So I guess we'll just be paired up in teams like we were in our initiations." After Jaune said this, he gave a smile to Pyrrha and began to walk up next to her.

"Actually no, Mr. Arc."

"Huh?" asked Jaune stopping in his tracks.

"You won't be paired up with Ms. Nikos." reiterated Professor Goodwitch. "In fact, you will not be partners with anyone from your original team."

"Say what?"

"For this exam, I will assign each of you a partner with someone from the other team."

"Wait, that would mean…"

"Yes, Mr. Arc." spoke up the light haired huntress before Jaune could finish his remark. "You will be partners with someone from Team RWBY."

The two groups then stared at each other with looks of surprise and curiosity. At this point, they were both quite interested in how the teams would turn out.

"So do we have any say on who we want to be teamed up with?" asked Jaune hopefully.

"None at all."

"Well what about—"

"Mr. Arc, I suggest you think over what you're going to say before you continue."

"Umm… never mind, Professor Goodwitch." responded Jaune as he got back in line.

"Good, I will now announce who is partnered together. Proceed to stand next to your new teammate after I do. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." replied back most of the group.

"Let's see here." stated the professor as she picked up a scroll with notes from her desk. "First team is… Pyrrha Nikos and… Weiss Schnee."

"Aww." cried out Jaune.

"Yes!" exclaimed Weiss happily. She then quickly dashed over to the red haired huntress. "It'll be a pleasure teaming with you." the heiress stated with an outstretched hand. 'This is how it should have been from the beginning.'

Pyrrha took Weiss' hand and shook it. "And I feel the same." She said with a smile.

"Next up is…" continued Goodwitch. "Blake Belladonna and… Nora Valkyrie."

"Ooh yay!" shouted the bubbly girl as she instantly made her way over to the cat faunus and brought her into a surprise hug. "Hi there, new partner! I'm so excited that we get to be on a team together! I've never been with anyone else besides Ren. Well, not 'with him' with him… you know because he and I are just friends and all. But I'm sure we'll be great friends too since you're sort of like him. Like with how you both don't talk much, like reading things, and have dark hair. I can't wait for us to get started!"

"Umm yeah… me too." answered back Blake as she patted Nora on the back. The hug lasted longer than Blake expected before she finally said, "Could you please let go of me now?"

"Oh sure!" replied the orange haired huntress as she released her grip.

"Thank you, Nora." spoke the black haired girl with a small grin.

"After that is… Ruby Rose and… Jaune Arc."

Hearing who she was with, the youngest huntress among them casually made her way over to her new partner. "Hey Jaune."

"Hey Ruby."

"So… teammates huh?" spoke Ruby as she gave him a smile.

"Yep." answered back the blonde haired boy in the same manner.

The two friends understood and knew they really didn't have to say anything more to each other, either that or they both just couldn't think of something else to say at the time.

At this point, the dark haired huntsman already realized who he was going to be partnered with after seeing where everyone else was but kept waiting until their names were finally called.

"And that just leaves… Lie Ren and… Yang Xiao Long."

Ren calmly walked over to the blonde brawler and greeted her. "Hello again." He said in his usual tone as he gave a modest smile toward Yang.

"Back at 'cha." She said smiling back at him.

"This should be interesting."

"I was hoping it would be." replied the huntress as her smile changed to a cocky smirk.

"These are your team assignments for the exam." stated Professor Goodwitch. "You will have a week to prepare so I highly recommend taking that time to learn about your partner and training together. You should come to know your partner's skills in combat, this will help you in identifying each other's strengths and weaknesses. Recognizing what you lack in battle is vital for both you and your allies' survival. Because when you are in a real world situation where you must rely on each other, you must trust in your teammates to support you and help make up for what you cannot do. This is one of the aspects I will be grading you on, how well you and your partner accommodate and adapt together. And I'm letting you know right now that it shows in battle if you and your teammate haven't learned to properly work together so I can't stress this point across enough: train. Understand?"

Her group of students compliantly nodded their heads back in response.

"Alright then, onto the other two main points I will be evaluating your teams on. They will be your individual combat aptitude and your overall teamwork. With this next point, I will be examining your abilities and how well you carry yourself in battle. Specifically, I'm looking for signs of improvement or alterations in your fighting style. I know each of you well enough that I'll be able to tell the changes you make if any. Along with that, I'll be watching as for how you present yourself. By this, I mean your general composure on the battlefield. For all huntsmen and huntresses, it is in their best interest to keep a level head and be in control of any situation. I'll be thoroughly taking note of the mindset you have as well as your awareness in combat."

The light haired professor then paused a moment from her explanation and took a drink of her coffee. 'I should've put more creamer in, I need to stop taking coffee from Ozpin's office.'

"Onto the last point: teamwork. As you now see, you are working with someone entirely new to you as a partner. Admittedly, I'm sure that amongst the members of this group you are all still very familiar with each other. The familiarity you share is the exact reason why I chose to put your teams together. You know each other on a personal level so you recognize how to fight as a group, but at the same time this also gives you the knowledge on how to fight against one another. As a result of those factors, you must be able to learn how you can counter them while also finding ways of overcoming them. This will be the most important part I'll be grading you on in the exam. To break it down, I'll be assessing your teams' dynamics, tactics and strategies, communication, and just how well you coordinate with your partner. And so, that pretty much covers all of it. Does anyone have questions or comments?"

"Ooh, ooh, I do!" declared Ruby excitedly with a raised hand.

"Yes, Ms. Rose?"

"Can we name our teams?"

"And why should I allow that?"

"You know, just for fun… please." answered Ruby with her hands clasped together and puppy dog eyes.

Glynda stared back intently at the young girl in front of her before finally giving in. "Alright then, I don't see why not."

"Hooray!"

"But on one condition."

"Uh huh…"

"I will be picking who names the teams and you'll have only a few minutes to decide on what you want to be called. Fair enough?"

"Fine by me! Right guys?" stated Ruby as she signaled over to her friends. Most of them answered back with positive affirmations.

"Good. Now let's see here…" spoke the light haired professor as she carefully looked over her students. "The ones that will be naming your teams are… Ms. Schnee, Ms. Valkyrie, Ms. Rose, and Mr. Lie. With your time starting… now."

After being given that information from Goodwitch, the students paired up with their partners and all at once began discussing names for their teams.

* * *

"So I was thinking…" spoke Weiss to her red haired partner. "We need a name to sound elegant but empowering, something that really represents the two of us as a team. What about the Leading Ladies? Actually no, scratch that. Too boring. What about you, Pyrrha? Any ideas?"

"Not really, but I guess I'm fine with anything you decide on. Well, mostly anything." answered back the girl with a humble smile.

"Okay, if you say so. Hmm… what about… the Femme Fatales?"

"Well, it's not bad… it just kind of makes us sound more like… villains."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. How about the Daring Damsels?"

"That sounds fine, I'm alright with it if you are, Weiss."

"It's good, but not great. I'm sure it'll come to me…"

* * *

"Let's get down to business!" declared Nora as she put her hands on Blake's shoulders. "I already have some amazing ideas for names bouncing around in my head, along with a bunch of other things like food and balloons but we can deal with those later. You wanna hear them? The names, not the food or balloons, because that'd just be weird."

"Sure." answered the black haired girl with attempted enthusiasm.

"Oookay! First up is Beauties and the Feast! (of Pancakes). See, you shout out the first part but then sneak in the last part like a surprise. Just like how you and I are."

"I see. It's… not bad, but I think it might be a little too long."

"Oh yeah. I guess I kinda did make it a little wordy. Onto the next one then. We shall be known as Team Milk and Syrup! Because it's both things we like to drink."

"Actually, I prefer having tea. Sorry." Blake said with a sincere apology.

"It's no problem, because we are now Team Books and Boop! Wait… never mind, can't do that one. Boop is mine and Ren's thing, aha. I'll find something, just you wait and see!"

"It's fine, Nora. Just take your time." She spoke with a smile. "Also, you kept coming up with things involving food. Would you like to go grab something to eat after class is over?"

"That'd be great! Where would you like to go?"

"Well, let's see. We could…"

* * *

"Okay Jaune! You ready for this?!" excitedly questioned the silver eyed girl to the blonde boy next to her.

"I'm ready!"

"Listen up for the greatest team name ever! Team… Cool Kids."

"Umm Ruby… that doesn't sound all that great."

"Really? I thought it sounded perfect. What's wrong with it?"

"Well… it's just that it sounds… too obvious. Like come on, we both know we're cool so why would we have to say it in our name that we are? You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, you're right. That's not something cool people do. You got any ideas?"

"Hmm…" pondered Jaune as he began rubbing his chin in thought. "Ooh, I got one. How about Team… Awesome Sauce." He said while motioning with his hands for emphasis.

"Awesome Sauce? I like the first part, but I don't get where the sauce comes in."

"You know, 'Awesome Sauce'. It means more awesome than awesome, like a whole other level of awesome beyond normal awesome. Have you never heard that?"

"Nope, never have."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Huh, guess we can't use that one. Well, I'm all out of ideas. You?"

Ruby snapped her fingers together as something popped into her head. "What about… Team Strawberry Cheesecake?"

"Strawberry… Cheesecake? Why and where did you come up with that?"

"Oh you know, because I'm like the strawberry part and you're like the cheesecake part. Plus, I heard Nora yelling about food over there so she made me think of it."

"Ruby, that doesn't make a lot of sense."

"Yeah, I know." admitted Ruby as she let her shoulders droop.

"Hey, don't worry about it." responded Jaune while placing an assuring hand on his friend's back. "I'm sure you'll think of something we both like."

"You think so?"

"Yeah." He answered back while giving her a smile.

"Thanks, Jaune. Hmm, thinking, thinking…"

* * *

"So Ren, what should our team name be?" questioned Yang to her new partner.

"I'm not quite sure." replied the dark haired huntsman honestly. "I usually didn't have to come up with things like this. Nora was always the one who did it for me, and I just went along with whatever it was."

"Well don't you worry your pretty little head, I got you covered on this." responded the blonde girl with a cocky smirk and a thumb pointed towards herself. "You and I will be… the Beacon Brawlers."

"The Beacon Brawlers?"

"Yeah, you know, because we punch and kick things and we're from Beacon."

"Yang, that name and how you described us make it sound like we're a gang." stated Ren in almost a joking manner.

"Huh… never thought about it like that, but when you put it that way, it really does. Guess it's a no on that one."

"Perhaps, we could call ourselves the Burning Lotus."

"Why Burning Lotus?"

"It's our emblems put together."

"Ah, I get it now. That's clever but… I think it sounds more like a special move from a video game, or the name of an oriental restaurant."

Hearing her comment, the young huntsman paused to think it over for a moment. "Hmm, I suppose you're right. I guess we'll need to come up with something else then."

"Ooh, it also could be the title of an old martial arts flick." joked the blonde haired girl as she motioned an exaggerated fighting stance.

A small chuckle arose from Ren after seeing Yang's display. "Yes, I think you would be right about that as well." He followed up with a small cough and regained his stoic composure. "Since that name is out of the question, do you have any other suggestions?"

"What about… Team Knock Out? It's simple and gets our point across." suggested the huntress as she brought her fists together.

"It's catchy, but also very blunt." responded the dark haired boy with his honest opinion. "I think our name needs to be more subtle, and a little less violent sounding."

"Okay sure, we'll do it your way. Whatever you come up with Ren is fine by me." spoke Yang with a cheerful grin.

"I'm glad to have your approval." said Ren as he kindly smiled back at her. "Perhaps, you and I could be…"

* * *

"Time's up!" declared Professor Goodwitch to her group of students. "Be ready to tell me your team name when called upon. Let's begin with you first, Ms. Schnee. What is the name of your team?"

"Pyrrha and I are… Team Siren's Song." announced the white heiress proudly.

"Appropriate, but also charming. I like it." replied Glynda as she typed it down onto her scroll. "Okay then, next will be you, Ms. Valkyrie. Your team name?"

"We are… Team Thundercats!" shouted Nora then imitated a sound of thunder afterward.

"Thunder… cats? May I ask why you chose to be called that?"

"Because I bring the thunder! And Blake has cat—" before Nora could finish speaking all of her friends coughed at once and Ren elbowed her in the side. "Aha sorry, what I meant to say is that Blake has… catlike reflexes! Meow."

"Uh huh. Let's just all move along now." instructed the light haired woman causing everyone to let out a sigh of relief. "Ms. Rose, what is the team name for you and Mr. Arc?"

"Together, Jaune and I make up… Team Cookie Cutter!"

"I would ask why, but I think I can guess the reasoning behind it. Alright, we're almost done." stated the huntress professor as she readjusted her glasses. "And lastly, you Mr. Lie. What is your team name?"

"Team Sunflower."

"Hmm, interesting. Not sure on the meaning, but it sounds delicate and fitting." commented Glynda honestly. "Alright students, now that it's all said and done, I've decided to release you from class early."

"Wahoo!"

"Yay!"

"Awesome!"

"Yes!"

"But before you go, I'm sending each of you a file for the exam. It gives a basic summary of what I told you here in class today, along with other guidelines for the exam itself as well as some helpful advice to prepare for it. So do remember to check the inboxes of your scrolls. Also, once more as a reminder to each of you, tra—"

"Train." responded the entire group of huntsmen and huntresses at once.

"Good, then I've gotten my point across. That will be all, class dismissed."

In an instant, both Team RWBY and JNPR sped out the doors together. Once they were gone, Glynda picked up her cup of coffee then levitated her desk over to a storage area in the back part of the amphitheater.

'I really do have a soft spot for those children.' thought Professor Goodwitch to herself.


	7. Weekend Plans

Ch. 7 Weekend Plans

"Out of class early! Sweet!" exclaimed Yang excitedly as she strolled along with her friends back to their dorm rooms.

"I know, right?" added in Jaune. "Means more time to just relax."

"Remember, we still need to train as well." pointed out the other male in the group.

"Yeah, yeah, as if any of us could forget after how much Goodwitch drilled it into us. But come on, Ren. It's the weekend so we should spend some of it taking it easy."

"He's got a point you know." spoke up Yang as she playfully elbowed the dark haired boy in the arm. "We all need to take a break sometime."

Pyrrha placed a friendly hand on Ren's shoulder. "I have to agree with them on this one. We've all been working hard as of late so it would be good for us to take the time to relax first. Then afterwards, we can focus on our studies."

Ren remained silent in thought at first. "I suppose you're right. Not allowing our minds and bodies to be at ease could interfere with our academic performance."

"Sooooo…" responded the blonde haired huntsman. "That means play before work."

"Just one more thing though before we get off the subject."

"And what's that?"

"Where are all of us going to train at?" asked Ren while motioning to the entire group.

Their friend's insightful comment caused the two teams to stop and wonder about that.

"Oh yeah…" stated Ruby while scratching the back of her head. "We're all not on the same teams so we probably don't need to train together. That's kinda important huh."

"Then we should certainly figure out an arrangement for our teams." pondered Ren.

"We could…" began in Blake thoughtfully. "Each pick a place for our teams to train at."

"That sounds like a great idea, Blake." replied Weiss in agreement. "Pyrrha and I call the amphitheater!"

"Ren and I got the gym!"

"Jaune and I are at the park!"

The faunus girl simply looked back with surprise at how fast her teammates had responded to her. "Oookay then, I guess that just leaves me and Nora with the ballroom."

"Ooh, this means I also get to practice on my dance moves!" declared Nora as she then began to hum a whimsical song while twirling around like she was a ballerina. Her random, well more like usual to them now, spectacle caused a few smiles and chuckles from her companions.

"See Ren, already worked out." said Jaune positively. "Nothing to do now but spend the rest of the day enjoying ourselves." Their initial conversation came to an end just as they all made it back to the hallway that connected their two rooms. "So guys, how should we spend our Friday night? I was thinking we could—"

"Actually." interjected Weiss smugly. "Us girls are going to spend our evening relaxing and being pampered at the spa. It's my treat and I've already scheduled us an appointment."

"That's very kind of you." responded Pyrrha appreciatively. "I would be more than happy to join you in that. And I'm sure Nora would as well." said the girl as she looked to her friend.

"Yep yep."

"Wow, thank you, Weiss." added in Blake with a smile. "But how exactly did you manage that?"

"I am a Schnee after all. And well, because my family sent me some extra spending money for almost completing another semester with perfect grades. So I thought to myself, what better way to spend it than on my friends." finished the heiress with a big-hearted smile.

"Thank you, best friend!" shouted Ruby as she brought Weiss into a loving hug.

"Ruby—"

"Always knew there was a warm heart in you, Ice Queen." joked Yang as she gingerly patted her friend's head.

Weiss' porcelain face began to show a light blush as her friends playfully teased her.

"I've never been to a spa before." spoke up Jaune curiously. I've always wanted to—"

"Jaune, did you not hear me?" asked Weiss in her usual tone of voice with her expression now back to normal. "I said us girls. As in female, so not you."

"Aww come on, why can't I join you guys? Umm, I mean girls."

"One, because I only reserved spots for six of us which include myself, Ruby, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, and Nora. And two, because this is supposed to be a girls' night out so both you and Ren, no offense…"

"None taken." answered back the dark haired huntsman.

"…aren't invited. Plus it'd be weird for two guys, even if they are our friends, to be hanging around with us girls while we're only wearing bathrobes."

"I, wait… what was that last part?"

"No boys allowed!"

"She does have a point, Jaune." noted Ren. "It would be most improper of us to be in the company of our female friends while they were… ahem, not fully clothed."

"But… yeah, I guess you're right." responded Jaune with his head slumped downward.

"Don't worry, Jaune." spoke the dark haired boy assuredly. "I'm sure you and I can find something else to do."

"Yeah I know, it's just that I was hoping we could all hang out together again. Another time, I guess."

Seeing her friend's distress, Ruby brought herself before the group. "Ooh, I know something we could all do. How about we all have lunch together tomorrow? Or even better, let's go out for a picnic!"

"A picnic does sound quite lovely, and a good opportunity for us to just catch up and spend time with each other." added in the red haired warrior of JNPR to help cheer up Jaune.

"Yeah, that does sound pretty nice. I'm okay with it if you guys are." commented the blonde huntsman with his face now showing a smile.

"Oh!" yelled out Nora as she burst in. "And each of us brings something to share with everyone! But Ren, you can't bring that icky green sludge drink you make."

"I've already told you, Nora. It's a nutritious all-natural tonic that cleanses your body and improves your physical health."

"It's a blech that's eww and makes you feel like you're drinking slime from a swamp."

"No matter what you say about it, it's good for you."

"How can it be good for you when you want to throw up as soon as you taste it?!"

"Alright, let's settle down you two." Pyrrha declared as she placed a calming hand on each of her friends. "Ruby, the picnic sounds like an excellent idea. And Nora, I think your suggestion about each of us bringing things to share is perfect. So as Jaune said earlier, is everyone in agreement on having a picnic lunch tomorrow?"

"Yes please!"

"Of course."

"Sure."

"Definitely!"

"Sound goods."

"Looking forward to it."

"I'm glad we've agreed on that." spoke Pyrrha after hearing everyone's responses. "We'll work out the details on what everyone will bring for that later. For now though, let's just think about how we're spending the rest of our day. Umm Weiss, when was the appointment at the spa scheduled for?"

"Since it was their last opening for the day, they scheduled us at 6. Oh, and I got us one of the deluxe packages so we'll be getting massages, facials, mud baths, a sauna session, and a couple other treatments. The whole thing is gonna take us a while, probably a few hours at most, but it will be more than worth it."

"That all sounds wonderful." responded Weiss' newly assigned partner with her eyes closed, dreamily imagining the relaxation to come.

"But that does leave us a little more than a couple hours to kill." pointed out Yang. "What'll we do until then?"

"I was prepared for that too." stated the heiress proudly. "And my plan was shopping at the Vale Mall and then having dinner after that."

"Food sounds pretty good right now." spoke up the black cat faunus. "Especially since Nora and I were talking about getting something to eat earlier."

After Blake's comment, Nora couldn't control her stomach from letting out a monstrous growl. A light blush appeared on the orange haired girl's face as her friends turned to look at her. "Sorry."

With a minor grin showing on him, Ren noted the cause for Nora's hunger. "You forgot to have second lunch, didn't you?"

"Mmhmm."

"Don't worry, Nora!" declared the youngest huntress in the group. "We'll make sure to go get food for you soon." Not long after her response, Ruby's stomach also grumbled loudly. "And… for me too, ahem."

"Well ladies, sounds like we have a plan." responded a satisfied Weiss. "Let's get ready then get going!"

With that said, the young women of Teams RWBY and JNPR went to their respective rooms to prepare for their night out. This left Jaune and Ren alone in the hallway as they simply stood there in a somewhat awkward silence. A small chunk of time passed before one of them finally said something to break the quiet.

"So Ren…"

"Yes, Jaune?"

"You wanna go to the arcade or something?"

"Hmm." responded the dark haired huntsman as he thought it over. "Sure. That seems like it could be fun."

"Yeah!" declared Jaune excitedly from out of nowhere. "We don't need those girls with us to have a good time. You know why? Because it just needs to be me and my best bud, Ren. Am I right?" asked the blonde boy as he threw a friendly arm over his friend's shoulders.

"Uh, right. Woo." answered back Ren trying to appear more enthusiastic for Jaune.

"So we're gonna have a guys' night out. Right?"

"…Okay."

"Anything could happen in the city of Vale with two wild guys like us out and about. So as soon as the girls are done, we'll get ready then head out to do our own thing. Got it?"

"Yes." replied Ren with a small smile.

"Thanks, I knew I could always count on you, Ren." spoke Jaune as he smiled back.

"You're welcome, and after all, that's what friends are for."


	8. Action Round

Ch. 8 Action Round

With their eyes trained on the corridor directly in front of them, two young huntsmen were taking a moment to refocus and calmly prepare for their advance down the stretch of hall. The two huntsmen are Lie Ren and Jaune Arc of Team JNPR. Ren was dressed in a grey, loosely buttoned Henley shirt with a forest green casual jacket and faded black cargo pants. He was also wearing a pair of black and white running shoes along with a pink and gold yin-yang necklace hanging from his neck. As for Jaune, he was in worn out dark blue jeans and a slim fitting white hoodie that had orange accents on it and his yellow emblem on the chest along with having the sleeves pulled up to his elbows. The blonde boy was also wearing a digital watch on his left wrist and a pair of high-top red and white sneakers. After taking a breather, they signaled to each other with a nod then readied themselves to reenter the fray.

Ren stood vigilantly with his gun pointed down the metallic entryway, keeping himself focused for any signs of movement. He takes in a breath, slowly inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth, to steady his aim. Seconds pass by without anything happening. Time feels like a crawl for the dark haired young man. From the corner of his eye, Ren can see his teammate Jaune also concentrating on the entry point. He closes his eyes and reopens them in the right moment to see two mechanical hostiles pop out from around an adjacent hallway further down. With lightning fast reflexes, the magenta eyed huntsman fires four rounds, two into each of the machines' heads putting them out of commission.

"Clear. Go ahead and move up, Jaune. I got you covered."

"On it." responded the blonde boy as he started to move further down the corridor.

Just as Jaune made it midway down the long corridor, a siren goes off alerting the two huntsmen of an approaching threat.

"Not good." stated Jaune in a concerned tone.

An automated feminine voice over the intercom then rang out. "Releasing nanites." Within seconds, a swarm of mechanized insects began to scurry out from the end of the hall. The horde of bugs quickly moved all along the floor, walls, and ceiling of the corridor heading right toward Jaune and Ren.

"I need to get in closer." called out the young man in green. "Jaune, can you hold them off until I get to your position?"

"Don't worry, Ren. I got this." replied the blonde huntsman confidently as he drew out his weapon. One by one, Jaune attacked the oncoming waves of tiny enemies to try and give his teammate enough time to get to him. However, the machines were relentlessly attacking back and gradually wearing down the young man.

"Aahhh!"

"Jaune! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. They just got through my shield." stated Jaune as he was taking cover.

"I'm almost there, just hold on." declared Ren as he kept firing his gun while moving up.

"Don't count me out just yet." He answered back with a smirk. "Grenade!" cried out the blonde warrior as he pressed a button on his gun controller launching a grenade at the swarm and creating a massive explosion.

"Well done." spoke Ren as he finished moving in next to his friend. "Rest for now, I'll take out the rest of them."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I needed to reload just as you got here."

"Lucky break for us then." the dark haired boy said with a grin to Jaune before bringing his attention back to the incoming hostiles. "Switching to burst fire and EMP rounds."

As soon as his weapon was in the mode he wanted it to be, Ren moved out of cover and immediately began unloading into the remaining metallic insects. After a few moments of rapid gunfire, the hallway of enemies was soon cleared. Jaune took his foot off the game pedal after fully reloading and returned his character's view to a now empty corridor.

"Wow, Ren. You wiped the floor with them."

"It was nothing really. I didn't have to do too much after your grenade, you did most of the work for me already."

"Don't be modest." said the boy in the hoodie as he playfully elbowed his friend. "There were at least half of those bugs still kicking after my grenade and you took them out way faster than I did. So it's cool to be proud of that, man."

"Well alright." Ren answered back with a smile. "But it does help that this controller is similar enough to my own weapons as a huntsman."

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that you still know how to kick butt with it in a video game. You're a badass in real life and in a virtual world, remember that."

"I suppose you're right. And you're pretty remarkable yourself, Jaune."

"Aww come on, Ren. You don't need to lie to me to make me feel better."

"It's the truth, Jaune. You wouldn't be my team leader if that wasn't the case. And keep in mind that being great doesn't depend solely on martial skill alone. You truly are extraordinary in your own way whether you want to believe me or not."

A slight blush appeared on the blonde huntsman's face causing him to turn away for a moment before looking back to his friend. "Well if you say so, thank you Ren."

"Don't mention it." replied the magenta eyed young man with a grin. "I also believe we're nearing the end of the game."

"I'm sure you're right about that. I feel like the final boss is really close to us, probably somewhere just beyond this door."

"Why don't we go see then?" asked Ren as he readied his gun. "Ready, Jaune?"

"Lead on. I got your back, partner."

* * *

"Maybe I should text them." considered Pyrrha as her shoulders were being massaged.

"Text who?" questioned the blonde girl lying next to her.

"Jaune and Ren. I hope they aren't too upset about being left out."

"Aww I bet they're fine." assured Yang as she glanced toward the red haired huntress. "I'm sure those guys will find something fun to do."

"They are boys after all." added in the Ice Queen as she looked toward the other girls.

"Yeah but…" began in Ruby thoughtfully. "They are our boys. They don't really have any other friends besides us."

"Ruby does have a point." chimed in Blake. "It's not like they can just hang out with Sun and his team who are back at Haven, or even Fox and Yatsuhashi who are too busy with their own finals. Also, Jaune and Ren aren't like most of the other guys on campus."

"I think all of you are just being a bunch of worrywarts." declared Nora as she shifted her body to allow the masseuse another spot to focus on. "Ren knows how to take care of himself and Jaune… well Jaune has Ren there with him so there's nothing to worry about. I think."

"Now you're making me feel bad, guys." griped Weiss.

"That's not our intention, Weiss." responded Pyrrha. "It's just that maybe we should…"

"Talk about making plans together before just doing them." finished Blake for her.

"Exactly."

The heiress laid there for a moment contemplating her friends' words. "Yeah, I guess you guys are right. I shouldn't have just left Jaune and Ren out like that. I wonder if there's a way to make it up to them."

"How about for the picnic tomorrow…" spoke up Ruby cheerfully. "We surprise Jaune and Ren with something special, just for them."

"Sounds like a good idea, sis. I'm in."

"Me too!"

"I as well."

"Count me in."

"That settles it then." noted Weiss. "We'll get an apology gift for the boys tomorrow."

"Woo." said Yang thankfully while motioning with her hand like she was flicking sweat away from her head. "Glad I wasn't the only one thinking that this whole time. That sure helps with clearing my guilty conscience, you bunch of jerks."

The blonde brawler's comment caused a few chuckles to fill the room.

"Anyways, I'm sure those two are staying out of trouble and doing okay on their own." continued Yang optimistically. "Nothing to worry about, right?"

* * *

"Ren, we are in so much trouble! We are not doing okay! This is far from okay!"

"You need to stop worrying and calm yourself down, Jaune."

"Calm down?! You've died twice already, I've bit the dust three times now, the scary computer robot lady thing is just barely down a third of her health, and there wasn't even a boss fountain before we made it here! It's game over, man. Game over!" cried out Jaune as he began to panic and fire wildly into the enemies.

While keeping his foot on the game pedal to stay in cover, Ren took one of his hands off the controller then reached over and placed it on Jaune's shoulder. The blonde young man soon realized that a hand was firmly but calmly gripping him causing Jaune to pause in his hysteria and focus his attention on Ren. "Jaune, we are going to get through this. But if we want to beat this, I need you to get a hold of yourself and listen to me. Understand?"

"Yeah." answered back Jaune with a nod. "Just tell me what to do."

"I think I know how to beat the boss." voiced Ren confidently as he released his grip and picked his gun controller back up. "And this plan will rely on you."

"That already sounds like a terrible plan."

"Just hear me out." responded the dark haired boy as he peaked out of cover to fire some more at the enemies. "From what I've seen so far, you haven't died to the boss at any point yet, have you?"

"Not yet, it's always been the robot minions she spawns that kill me. Why you ask?" questioned Jaune as he mirrored his teammate.

"Because I have died from her every time." spoke Ren as he continued his guerilla style warfare. "This is where my strategy comes in. What we know so far is that her weakness is her power core, but that doesn't open up until she attacks."

"Yeah and even when it does, there's too many of her robots in the way for us to get to it. And then she starts to regenerate some of her health after the core closes back up." stated the blonde huntsman while employing the same tactics as Ren.

"This is where you come in, Jaune. You're going to be the one to assault and destroy the core when it opens up."

"Wait, what? Why does it need to be me? You're a way better shooter, Ren, and I'm totally fine with just picking off the mobs of machine drones."

"That's exactly why it has to be you. Because I am a better marksman the boss identifies me as more of a threat which is why it keeps targeting and killing me. We can use this perception to our advantage. Instead of confronting the boss head on like I did before, I'm now going to be a distraction and draw in the machine horde thus opening up the area for you to have a clear shot."

"That… actually sounds like a pretty smart plan."

"I'm glad you think so, because you're the one that inspired it. The idea came to me right after you died the last time." responded Ren as he ducked back into cover.

"Really? So me dying helped you come up with a plan. Cool. Glad I was able to help." answered back Jaune as he fired a few more shots before also taking cover.

"Now that we've talked about it, are you ready to set the plan in motion?"

"Whenever you are."

"One more thing. I'll probably be able to distract the boss for only a brief amount of time so the moment before the core opens up use any power-ups you have left then once it's exposed, use your strongest weapon on her. I might die, but I think you'll be able to beat the game." said the dark haired young man somewhat jokingly.

"Don't worry, you're not gonna die today." replied Jaune in an action hero voice.

"Umm thanks." smiled back Ren.

"Now let's do this."

The two young huntsmen put their strategy into action. Jaune remained behind cover switching over to an electromagnetic laser cannon in his inventory and then began to lie in wait until the boss' core was in view in order to spam his power-ups.

'I completely forgot I had this gun… well it's a good thing I saved it until the end here.'

Meanwhile, Ren was unloading as many rounds as quickly he could into the mass of mechanical monstrosities. Just like they wanted, the machine horde focused all of their attention on the huntsman in green and shifted their way toward him. He continued to stand his ground drawing in as many of the robots as possible until the final boss began to ready itself to attack Ren alongside its minions.

"Jaune, get ready. She's about to strike."

"You can count on me, Ren. I got this."

After a few more moments passed by, the boss was done charging up then unleashed its barrage of missiles and bullets on the lone gunman in green. He kept firing even as the salvo of projectiles was making its way towards him, keeping his magenta eyes locked on the machine's core until it finally opened.

"Jaune!"

"Now!" yelled out Jaune as he swiftly appeared from out of cover. After using every single boost and upgrade at once, the blonde huntsman then took aim and fired a focused beam of electrical energy directly at the boss' weak point. The powerful weapon steadily brought down the remainder of the boss' health in a matter of seconds. In its last moments, the evil computer AI let out a horrific scream of agony before a fiery blue explosion erupted from it body. The resulting boss' destruction caused the rest of the robotic drones to fall over and shut down. After the boss was defeated, a victory screen appeared followed by a cutscene showing their heroes escaping from the base. The ending credits then scrolled by with their two characters walking away from explosions that were happening in the background.

"Yeah! We did it!" declared the blonde boy as he excitedly put an arm around his friend's shoulders while pointing his gun controller up in the air and firing it.

"Yay." responded Ren with a grin.

"Man, that was one heck of a rush." spoke Jaune as he began to come down from his victory high. "Oh hey look. It's gonna tell us on how we did in the game."

The two young men then glanced over and focused on the game screen.

"What?!" cried out Jaune. "There were three bonus levels we missed! And there was one right before the end of the game. I bet that's where the final boss fountain was."

"Although, we did rank 4th overall which I believe is something we should be proud of."

"Yeah, that's true. This was our first time playing it, and we did pretty good as a team."

As they continued talking with each other, the two young men entered the initials "ARC" and "REN" respectively on their game screens.

"Those were my thoughts exactly. Also, our plan worked out perfectly and you defeated the final boss. By the way, where did you get that weapon to destroy her?"

"Well I picked it up two levels back I think, and I… kinda forgot I had it until then, aha."

"In spite of that, you did very well with it and used it precisely when you needed to."

"Thanks, Ren. And together, we finally beat the game which only took us… two hours! Did we really spend that much time on that game?"

"Hmm, I suppose we did. I guess as they say, time flies when you're having fun."

"Yeah but… I spent way more than I meant to on that. I wonder if I still have enough money to play a few more games." stated Jaune as he began to count through his remaining lien.

"Don't worry, I can pay for the rest of them." spoke the young man in green as he closed Jaune's hand holding his money. "What else did you want to play?"

"You don't have to, Ren. I'll be fine."

"I insist." responded Ren with a smile.

"Well okay, if you really want to."

The dark haired simply replied back with a nod.

"Let me think on what we could do. We just got done playing Chrono Threat II, I actually think there's two more after that one but let's worry about those for another day. We did that fighting game Road Brawler earlier, a few races in Gearshifters, and Food Shinobi which you were also really good at. I mean it's literally just a game about slicing up food, but way to go on getting the high score in that."

"I've spent a lot of time with food." added in Ren jokingly.

"Whatever you say, Food Master." said Jaune with a playful bow. "Oh wait, I know one that we can do. Just follow me."

The two huntsmen made their way over to a bright, colorful game that had catchy music coming from it with two platforms in front of it that had four arrows pointing out in the cardinal directions from the center of them.

"Hmm, Step Step Evolution. This looks interesting."

"It's a dancing game. You just match your steps with the arrows whenever they move up to the top of the screen. It's all about timing. The more precise you are with matching your dance steps to the music, the better your score. I'm sure you'll catch on pretty quick." explained Jaune as he made his way up onto one of the platforms.

"Sounds like it should be fun." responded the dark haired young man as he went over and paid for both him and Jaune then got onto his respective platform.

"Now let's see here." considered the boy in white as he scrolled through the song list. "Alright. We'll start off with this as a warmup, a little blast from the very recent past. Oh, and one other thing, keep your eyes focused more on the screen than on your feet. Got it?"

"Got it." answered back Ren with a thumbs-up.

They both pressed the start button then waited until the song cued up.

" _ **Baby!"**_

" _ **It's time to make up your mind."**_

Hearing the first part of the track caused Ren to perk up and glance over to Jaune. The blonde boy simply stared back with a look of what while raising his shoulders.

" _ **I think… that tonight is when our stars align.**_

 _ **Honey, it's time to leave the doubt behind."**_

The dark haired huntsman gave a small shake of his head then grinned over to his friend.

" _ **Take my hand 'cause you and I are gonna shine."**_

With that, the two young men began to move their feet and bodies to the rhythm of the music. Both of them were quite familiar with the song playing since they had danced to it before as a group with Pyrrha and Nora at the school dance. Ren was slower than Jaune at the start but eventually, he adapted to the gameplay and found his stride in matching the arrow cues. They soon moved in unison scoring in points equally for the remainder of the round until the song finally came to an end. The game screen showed Jaune with a moderate lead above Ren.

"See, told you you would catch on." commented Jaune with a smirk. "Still, you're gonna have to do just a little better if you want to beat me."

"I don't mind trying it again, how about we do another round then?" asked Ren as he began to roll up the sleeves of his jacket.

"Show me your moves." answered back Jaune while striking a pose.

"Umm, Jaune, I don't know what you're doing. Is that supposed to be from something?"

"It's just… something that a umm… certain character from a video game does." he said feeling somewhat embarrassed while rubbing the back of his head.

"Ah, I see now. You certainly are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about your video games. I'm glad to see you find so much enjoyment from them."

"Yeah well, they're like one of the few things I don't suck at." joked Jaune causing a small chuckle from his friend. "So you ready for a dance off?"

"Whenever you are." replied Ren as he put more money into the machines.

The blonde boy in white looked through the songs before finally making up his mind. "Ooh hey, this is a new one. Let's just give this one a go." Jaune selected the track then both of them pressed the start button once more. A few seconds passed by before an electronic beat began to play. The rhythm continued on for a little longer before the lyrics finally kicked in.

" _ **We're all born with a dream,**_

 _ **We wanna make come true.**_

 _ **The best will climb to the top like me,**_

 _ **The rest will end up like you."**_

Right after the first lyrics to the song came in, Jaune and Ren began to move their feet with the incoming arrow cues.

" _ **I bet it's hard to live with,**_

 _ **Knowing that you'll never be this fine.**_

 _ **Don't be distraught, don't be sad,**_

 _ **You gave it your best try."**_

As they danced, Jaune and Ren did their best to time each of their steps correctly in order to outscore each other. The two huntsmen appeared to be almost perfectly in synch as they would occasionally look to one another with competitive smirks seeing if the other was keeping up.

" _ **Listen, girlfriend...can't you see?**_

 _ **I'm all of the things that you'll never be.**_

 _ **I'm cool like the rain and I'm hot like the sun,**_

 _ **I'm a neon rainbow and you're no fun."**_

The music continued to flow with its catchy beat and the two teammates continued to match the game's prompts, neither of them seeming to slow nor back down from the challenge of it. The game round continued for another couple minutes until it finally came to an end. Both breathing heavily, the two boys then focused their eyes on the game screen to see the outcome of the match. The results showed S ratings for both of them, but Ren had emerged the victor by only a few points.

"Con…" began Jaune before pausing to take a breath. "grats, Ren."

"Thanks…" answered back Ren as he did the same. "Jaune."

The two friends took a couple minutes to catch their breaths before they were soon completely back to normal.

"Tiebreaker?" questioned the blonde huntsman excitedly.

"Sure." said Ren smiling back.

"Fancy moves, Jauney Boy." spoke a masculine voice from behind the two of them. Hearing the tone and the nickname he was called, Jaune immediately knew who it was talking. Both he and Ren shifted their gazes over to see Cardin Winchester and the rest of his team.

"Cardin, what do you want?" The attitude in Jaune's voice had changed to discontent as he looked at Team CRDL.

"Oh, me?" replied the tall young man as he casually began walking over to Jaune. "Well me and the boys decided to go have some fun at the arcade and lucky us, we just so happen to run into our two favorite classmates Jauney and… umm…" Cardin trailed off as he forgot or didn't even know Ren's name.

"Ren." stated the blonde huntsman annoyed.

"Right, Ren." spoke Cardin as he threw his arm around Jaune. Not shortly after, the rest of Team CRDL were surrounding the two teammates with Russel and Sky each putting an elbow on Ren's shoulders. "So since we're all such good classmates, you guys wouldn't mind helping us out by lending us some lien, right?"

"Come on, Cardin." started Jaune trying to keep his calm. "It's nearly the end of school. Just leave—"

"Sure." interjected Ren calmly before his friend could finish.

"What?" spat out Ren's teammate in disbelief.

"Really?" questioned Cardin as his attention along with the rest of his group was now on the dark haired young man.

"I don't mind at all, but only on one condition." responded Ren in his usual stoic tone.

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"You just have to beat me in that game over there." answered the magenta eyed huntsman as he pointed over to a machine with what look liked a cushion in the center of it facing outward. "But if you lose, you and your team have to leave Jaune and me alone."

"And if I win?"

"You get 20 liens each, no questions asked."

Cardin paused for a moment as if in thought. "What's the game about?"

"It's very simple. All you do is strike the cushion as hard as you can. Then the game measures the power of your hit and tells you how you did."

"Uh huh, and why should I do it then?"

"Because you're strong and it shouldn't be too difficult for someone like you to best someone like me. That is, unless you're not up for a challenge."

"And what do you mean by that?" spoke the orange haired boy with a raised temper.

"I just thought you wouldn't mind showing off how tough you were and proving your superiority over me, but I guess I was wrong."

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" stated Cardin as he moved his face closer in to Ren to intimidate him.

"Not at all, I just didn't realize you thought I was on equal terms with you in strength. But I'm glad you think that way." responded Ren still in his normal voice with a grin.

"You sure like to run that smart mouth of yours, Renny Boy."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm simply offering to play a casual game with a friendly wager against one of my classmates. To make it even better for you, I'll give you 40 liens if you win, Cardin."

"That's 100 liens, Cardin." spoke up Russel. "Just do it."

"We know you'll beat him anyways." added in Dove.

"Yeah, do it already." stated Sky right after him.

"You know what, Renny Boy, you're on."

"Good, I'm glad we have come to an agreement." answered back the dark haired young man calm as ever. "I'll lead the way."

As Ren was walking toward the machine, Jaune appeared right up next to him and began whispering to his friend. "Pssh, Ren, are you crazy? Why are you going up against Cardin?"

"Don't worry, Jaune." Ren whispered back to him. "This will turn out just fine, but I am going to need your help with this."

"Me? What do you need me to do?"

"I just need you to show how the machine works and that's it. Can you do that for me?"

"Sure, I can do that. But I'm not exactly sure how that helps."

"It's mostly to prove a point. You'll see."

"Okay, if you say so."

The group of young men soon made it over to the game machine called Power Gauge.

"So how's this thing work?" questioned Cardin.

"Allow us to demonstrate." replied Ren as he moved towards the device. "Jaune, could you stand right there in front of the cushion?"

"Sure." said Jaune as made his way to the padded object.

"Just put in your money." The boy in green then inserted some liens into the machine. "Then whenever you're ready, you just hit the padding. Go ahead, Jaune."

The blonde huntsman readied himself then threw a decent punch into the machine. After a few seconds, the game began lighting up even brighter as it measured the power of Jaune's hit. The line of colorful bulbs went up about a third of the way on the sides of the machine before stopping. A display screen then showed a number with the term "Scrapper" beside it.

"Well done, Jaune." stated Ren. "And that's how it works. Would you like to start?"

Cardin now appeared to have a cocky smile after he saw Jaune's example. It was almost like he came to a conclusion that Ren would be on the same level as Jaune. "I'd be happy to." responded the tall huntsman as he popped his knuckles while making his way to the machine. "Russ, pay for my turn."

After Russel paid for his leader's fee, Cardin paused in front of it. He readied his Aura within himself and then threw a forceful punch into the cushion. The lights went up to about three-fourths of the machine then stopped. The game showed an even higher score than Jaune's with the word "Powerhouse" next to it. Cardin's performance cause his teammates to cheer and holler for him. "Looks like you're all done for, Renny Boy."

"I wouldn't claim your victory just yet." spoke Ren as he put his money into the game then made his way over to the padded object. The dark haired young man stopped and took in a slow controlled breath. He then shifted his body into a fighting stance and readied his fists, feeling his Aura coursing through them. In a flash, Ren delivered a powerful impact into the machine that echoed throughout the building. The Power Gauge lit up all the way to the top and stopped there. For a moment, the game looked like it froze before finally displaying a number and the text "Grimm Slayer." All of them looked over to Ren with shock on their faces.

"I believe that's game, Cardin."

After hearing him, the tall huntsman immediately changed from disbelief to anger as he reached out and pulled Ren by the collar of his shirt toward him. "You cheated, and now you're dead meat." Right after Cardin grabbed Ren, the other three members of CRDL also grabbed onto Jaune.

"Hey, let go of us, you sore losers." declared Jaune as he attempted to struggle against the three guys holding him.

"Let's take them out back and show them what happens to people that cheat." spoke Cardin as he yanked the magenta eyed young man closer toward him.

"Actually, I didn't cheat." stated Ren with a stone face.

"What was that?" asked the orange haired boy as he readied his other fist like he was about to throw a punch.

"I said…" reiterated Ren as he tightly grasped with his left hand onto the wrist holding him by the collar. The pain caused by this motion forced Cardin to stop what he was doing and focus on Ren. "I didn't cheat. But I can explain how I beat you." said the dark haired young man as he tightened his grip more to keep Cardin's attention.

"As you saw with Jaune's demonstration, he doesn't know how to properly channel his Aura yet and it's alright that he doesn't. He'll learn how to with time. However, you and I do. We both hit that machine with a strike that was powered by our Auras. The difference being is that when you did it, too much of your energy dispersed out and was wasted making your punch weaker. Mine does not do that because I have learned how to concentrate my Aura into a singular point when I strike. From the start, you assumed that I would only be able to hit as hard as Jaune because we are on the same team. You were mistaken."

"So what's your point?" asked the tall huntsman as he struggled to free his wrist.

"My point is that you shouldn't make assumptions and underestimate people you don't fully know about, because you also don't know what they're capable of. For example if I were to focus my entire Aura into one location, say into something as simple as a finger." explained Ren as his right hand was suddenly under Cardin's chin pointing upward with his index finger like he was holding a gun. The dark haired huntsman's action caught the orange haired boy by surprise forcing him to look at Ren's face, only to see cold eyes staring back at him. "What would happen if all that energy was released at once?"

"You're j-just joking, r-right? You w-wouldn't do s-something like that." stated Cardin trying to control from stuttering in fear.

Ren didn't answer. He just kept looking at Cardin with those magenta eyes of his. He then slowly motioned with his mouth and spoke in a tone loud enough for only Cardin to hear.

"Bang."

Ren's word caused the leader of CRDL to flinch and close his eyes. He froze up and remained completely still before eventually realizing nothing had happened. Cardin felt a drop of sweat slide down the side of his head and gave a gulp of relief to see that he was still breathing. The tall huntsman exhaled slowly to see Ren remove his finger from under his chin.

"But I'm sure nothing like that would ever happen. Right, Cardin?" asked Ren in his normal tone as if nothing had transpired between them. "Since we're such good classmates."

"Umm… right, Ren, aha." answered back Cardin trying to sound calm as he instantly released his hold on the dark haired young man. He then motioned for his teammates to let go of Jaune which they did promptly. "You know, you and Jaune are great guys. And it was nice hanging out and all, but I think there was somewhere else we needed to be. Come on, boys." With the last part of his statement, Cardin quickly sped out of the arcade with the other members of CRDL right behind him.

The two teammates just stood there quietly at first. Then they both adjusted their clothes back to normal from being grabbed at. Eventually, Jaune spoke up.

"Hey Ren…"

"Yes, Jaune?"

"That was really cool what you did there." spoke the blonde boy sincerely as he gave a smile to his friend.

"You think so?"

"Oh yeah, but… it was also kinda scary. Were you really gonna shoot Cardin?"

"No, I wasn't. That part was just a bluff." stated Ren with a shy grin.

Hearing his response caused Jaune to burst out laughing hysterically. "Seriously? You were just bluffing the whole time? So you can't shoot Aura through your fingertips?"

"Well the part about me channeling Aura wasn't a lie. I can actually do that, but I have to do it with something like a kick or a punch as you saw when I beat Cardin on that game. But as far as firing a blast of energy from my finger, I can't do that. It sounded convincing enough though, right?"

"You had me fooled. Where did you even come up with all that? Like did you know what Cardin was gonna do? Or that you would win in that game?"

"With Cardin, not exactly. But I did have an accurate enough idea in mind on how it would play out. Whenever CRDL first showed up, I knew they would try to intimidate us and most likely threaten us with violence. So I tried coming up with a solution to keep that from happening and that plan just sort of came together in my head last second. I remember seeing the Power Gauge game as we went around the arcade earlier and I've sparred against Cardin enough times in Glynda's class to know my strike would outmatch his. I knew he would want money from us so after considering the other factors, I proposed a wager on a game I would more than likely win at. As for the part with the energy gun finger, that came from an old anime I watched and I only truly planned on doing that as a last resort. It didn't end the way I hoped it would, but at least no one got hurt in the end."

"Wow, Ren. Never knew you were a mad genius." joked the blonde boy.

"I wouldn't exactly say that, just good planning."

"Right? Says the guy who just scared the living crap out of Cardin."

"True, and if it were any other day, I probably would have just given him some money and asked them to be on their way. But it's near the end of school and I've grown tired of putting up with Cardin and his team's delinquent behavior. So I thought to myself, not today. Plus, I'm enjoying a nice night out with my friend Jaune and I didn't want them to ruin that." finished the dark haired young man with a smile.

"Aww, thanks buddy." Jaune said smiling back. "And you probably won't ever have to worry about them messing with you again."

"I suppose you're right. I did 'scare the living crap out of him' as you said." Ren's remark caused a small chuckle from his teammate. "So did you still want to play some more?"

"Yeah! Let's— ouch." began Jaune before stopping from pain. "Give me a minute, those guys kinda reminded me how much I was still hurting from earlier."

"How about we take it easy for the rest of the night?" suggested Ren as he placed a friendly hand on his friend's shoulder. "I actually have something in mind that can help you with that if you're up for it."

"Sure, I could go for something that stops my body from hurting all over. What is it?"

"I'll explain what it is as soon as we get back to our dorm room. I think we've had more than enough fun here at the arcade."

"Okay then, back to Beacon it is. But you and I are still gonna have a tiebreaker later. Deal?" spoke Jaune smiling as he put a fist up to Ren.

"Deal." answered back Ren as he fist bumped Jaune and smile back. The two friends headed out the doors and began making their trek from the city back towards the academy. "By the way, Jaune, you do know that Nora would have gone after CRDL if anything would have happened to us, right?"

"Oh yeah, totally forgot about that. She would have broken all their legs and put them in the hospital. Ha."


	9. Pleasant Evening

Author's Note: Hello there. I'm sorry for not having updated this story in quite some time. Luckily, I was finally able to find the free time to write again. I hope you enjoy reading this new chapter. Hopefully, I won't be taking as long of a hiatus again. Also, I promise to have more Yang and Ren in the coming chapters.

\- Gray

* * *

Ch. 9 Pleasant Evening

"Hey Ren?" questioned a blue eyed young man as he struggled to keep his body still.

"Yes Jaune?" responded his dark haired friend while keeping his eyes closed.

"This… isn't exactly what I had in mind when you said 'taking it easy'."

"What do you mean?" wondered Ren as he calmly opened up his eyes and looked over to Jaune.

"Well…" began the blonde huntsman. Jaune was dressed in a pair of grey sweat pants and a light blue T-shirt as he continued to fidget while trying to keep himself posed in the same stretched out position as his teammate. "…it's just that I'm not exactly the most flexible guy, so me trying to do yoga for the first time is like me playing a bad game of Twister."

"Oh, my apologies, Jaune." replied Ren as he shifted out of his current position and went over to his fellow huntsman. Ren was wearing a sleeveless black muscle shirt and lime green athletic shorts. "You should have told me something sooner so I could help you. Here, let me properly set your body in the correct pose."

"Thanks but…" Jaune allowed himself to just collapse onto the ground. "I kinda rather just call it quits."

"I can understand why you're frustrated but before we give up on this, let me ask you something first. Is your body still hurting?"

"Umm… yeah, yeah it is."

"Then I promise you that this will help, Jaune. You just have to trust me." spoke the magenta eyed young man with a small smile.

Jaune stopped for a moment to think and consider his friend's words. "Well, okay." answered back the blonde boy with a smile of his own. "But I'm definitely gonna need some advice on how to do this."

"Don't worry, I plan to focus on just helping you out for the rest of the night."

"You sure about that, Ren? I'd feel bad making you have to help me the whole time."

"I'm sure, and it's really not a burden. I have done this all before so I can always do it some other time. You, however, do not know how to, so I'd be more than happy to help in teaching you."

"Well thanks again, Ren." Jaune said as he smiled to him. "So what do I gotta do?"

"For starters, let's get you set up in the proper stance."

With Ren's help, the blonde huntsman was able to place himself in the right yoga pose. Jaune would remain in these poses for an appropriate amount of time until his friend would tell him what he needed to do next then assist him with moving his body. As Jaune continued to do this, he couldn't help but feel a slight sense of awkwardness when Ren would help him change from position to position. It wasn't any fault of Ren's; it was just that Jaune never had another guy touching his body in such a way that didn't involve beating him up. It was different to say the least, and the blue eyed boy couldn't control a shade of red from appearing on his face every now and then.

Ren had actually come to notice this from his friend and had been quite patient with Jaune until he finally decided to point it out. "You've done very well, Jaune." Ren said as he helped his friend back into a normal sitting position. "And you do know that you can tell me if you were feeling uncomfortable at any point."

"Who me? Uncomfortable? Pssh, yeah right, aha." said Jaune with an overemphasized smile while trying to keep his cool.

The dark haired huntsman couldn't help but let out a chuckle in response.

"What? What's so funny?"

"It's nothing, Jaune." smiled Ren as he decided to simply go along with his friend's façade of calm. "I'm just proud you were able to get through all of that routine in your first time doing yoga."

"Wait, we're done?"

"Indeed, you did it."

"Alright! Yeah!" exclaimed the blonde boy as he eagerly stood up.

"So tell me, how are you feeling now?" asked his friend as he also got on his feet.

"Actually…" started Jaune as he stretched out his arms and legs. "I'm feeling a lot better. Wow, that yoga stuff really does work." In the middle of his quick and excited movement, the young man felt a minor twinge of pain in his shoulders and mid-back. "Ooh, ow. That still kinda hurts, better but still hurts."

"Here, let me see." stated Ren as he walked over to his friend. "Show me where it hurts exactly."

Jaune moved his hand over to an area in between the center of his back and just below his right shoulder blade. "Right there."

"Hmm." considered the huntsman as he gently placed his hand on his friend's back. Ren closed his eyes and began to feel with his Aura. After a moment, he realized Jaune had a minor knot deep in his muscles. "I have a way of helping with that, but it would require me causing you a little discomfort in order to fix it."

"If it'll help, sure. Give it a shot."

"Understood. Now just stay as still as you can." Ren opened his eyes back up and made his right hand into a flat plane with his fingers firmly pointed toward the hurt area on Jaune's body. He then placed his other hand onto his friend's shoulder to keep him steady. "This is going to hurt a little."

"Oh come on, it can't be that ba— AAAHHH!" the blonde boy stopped midsentence as Ren's hand quickly struck into his back. Jaune felt his entire body tense up from the pain of being hit but then completely relax right afterward. After a few seconds, he started to feel even better than he did before. "What just happened?"

"I channeled my Aura into my hand and used it to target the area where you were hurting. My strike was able to help loosen up your muscles so that your Aura could return to its proper flow within your body."

"Oh… that's awesome! Where did you learn to do something like that? And how did you know to hit that spot? And can you teach me how to do that too?"

Ren first gave a small laugh from the chain of questions from his friend. "Practice. A lot of practice. As for how I knew where to target, I used my Aura to read yours. Much like how Pyrrha used hers to help you with unlocking your Aura the first time. I was able to sense where your body had a buildup of energy which happens due to your body naturally sending Aura to repair any damage it detects. You would have healed fine on your own soon enough, I simply helped in speeding up the process. And yes, I can teach you how to do it as well, but it might take a while to properly learn and it doesn't really have any combat application to it. Your opponents aren't exactly going to let you feel their bodies for where their Auras are flowing."

"Don't care, I still want to learn how to do it. Plus, never know when I could help you or someone else with it." said Jaune with a wink.

"Alright then, I'd be happy to teach you." smiled back Ren. "It will take quite some time to learn the basics so perhaps we start sometime during the break or at the beginning of the next school year, if that's okay with you?"

"Definitely, we'll figure out some time around there. But for right now let's—" Jaune stopped as he felt and heard his stomach let out a monstrous growl. "Eat dinner. We kinda forgot about that, aha."

"I agree. Are you in the mood for anything in particular?"

"Well, I'm feeling pretty relaxed and lazy right about now so how about we just order pizza and get it delivered?" stated the blonde young man as he stretched out his arms.

"Sounds like a good idea. Do we have any other plans for the night?"

"Nah, not really. Let's just chill back in our dorm room and play cards or something."

"That is fine with me, I think we've had quite a fun guys' night so far."

"Can't argue with you on that. It's been really cool hanging out, Ren." spoke Jaune with a grin to his friend.

"I'm glad you feel the same." replied his dark haired teammate as he grinned back.

"Of course, man. We definitely gotta do this again sometime. If you're up for it that is."

"I look forward to when we do this again."

"Thanks. Well I'm gonna go order the pizza and hope it gets here before my stomach tries to start eating me from the inside out. What would you like?"

"I'll message it to you, I'm going to go wash up and I'll meet you back at the room."

"Okay then, see you there."

* * *

The boys' evening continued on with pizza soon being delivered to Team JNPR's room. Jaune had gotten himself a pepperoni and mushroom pizza while Ren had an anchovy and spinach pizza. Not long after, the two huntsmen were happily stuffed from food and were now winding themselves down for the night. Jaune and Ren were each holding a hand of cards as they sat across from one another with a discard pile in between them. A small flatscreen television was playing some random programming in the area behind the two of them just to provide some minor background noise so that it wasn't too quiet in the dorm room. Neither of them was paying attention to it and kept playing their casual game of cards in between talking to each other.

"So I was wondering…" spoke Jaune to his teammate.

"Yes?" asked Ren as he threw down a card.

"Where did you learn all that yoga stuff?"

"I learned it from a recreational program that was in the city. The class lasted three months which consisted of a session every week along with a monthly cumulative practice. It proved quite helpful in muscle relaxation and stress reduction. Why do you ask?"

"Umm… just curious I guess." answered the blonde boy as he shyly turned away.

"Uh huh, you wouldn't happen to be interested in taking part perhaps?"

"Who me?" questioned Jaune with a hint of red to his face as he turned back to his friend. "I'm not into that sort of thing."

"Well I think you should give it a try, especially since you did so well on your first time. Plus, there are some of our fellow classmates who also go to it."

"Oh really? Who?"

"I've seen Blake at almost every session. Weiss is part of it, but only shows up about half the time. Velvet is also in it and she's always there. She occasionally brings Coco along with her, if she can convince her I'm guessing. Aside from that, the only other thing I can tell you is that the class is mostly made up of girls." After giving his answer, Ren noticed his friend seemed to have a starry eyed look about him almost like he was daydreaming. "Umm, Jaune, are you still with me?"

"Oh yeah, yeah I am." responded the blue eyed huntsman as he shook himself back to attention. "When you put it that way, that does sound like a pretty cool class. Where do I sign up for it?"

"Unfortunately, the program ended a few weeks back already so you'll have to wait until it opens back up again in the city, but I'll gladly assist you with that when the time comes." stated the dark haired young man with a smile at the end of his response.

"Aww, okay then. Speaking of waiting, the girls should probably be back soon, right?"

"More than likely. Although, they could have gone and decided to do something else after their spa appointment."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Hey, you ever wonder what those girls talk about when it's just them?"

"Hmm, not particularly."

"Really? You've never been curious to know what they gossip about when they're together?" questioned Jaune as he playfully elbowed Ren. "You know like when we're not around."

"Nope, I've never thought about it. Have you?"

"Well yeah, I mean just think about it. They probably talk about boys, and who they think is cool, and what's popular, what clothes are in style, and lots of other things."

"Jaune, I believe you may be overthinking all that."

"You think so? Ooh wait, this reminds of a game we should play."

"All right." commented Ren a little hesitant to his friend's sudden change in subject. "What is it exactly?"

"It's something I learned from Sun and Neptune while those guys were here visiting. I remembered it because they were talking about the same thing as me right now and they made it into a game. So it's called Friend, Date, Fight. The rules are pretty easy. I name off three girls to you and then you have to decide on which one you'd be friends with, which one you'd date, and which one you'd fight. Then you would do the same thing back to me. Also, you can give a reason why you made your choices the way you did if you want to or if someone asks you to. And that's pretty much it. Think you got it down?"

"For the most part, but I don't fully understand the point to it." said Ren with some obvious confusion on his face.

"There's really not any point to it other than just having fun with it." explained Jaune with a reassuring smile. "I guess it's kinda like just entertaining or sometimes funny because you're imagining these unlikely things happening to you and people around you. Know what I mean?"

"I think I do." spoke the magenta eyed huntsman as he smiled back to his friend. "Perhaps, I'll understand it more clearly once we begin playing."

"That's cool with me. Here, I'll start you off first. Friend, Date, Fight: the Malachite Twins, Melanie and Miltia, and that one new girl Emerald I think her name was."

"Umm let's see. I guess I'll be friends with Emerald and fight against both the twins."

"Wait, what?! Why would you say that?" asked Jaune baffled by his friend's answer.

"Well I just don't think I could be friends or dating one of the sisters without the other being offended and fighting me. So that leads me to conclude they would both be mad at me regardless of who I wanted to be close with due to the fact I would be unable to show an equal amount of friendship or affection to either of them. Plus, Emerald seems like a nice girl and I don't exactly want to get involved with organized crime when it comes to the Malachite twins."

"Huh… okay then. I've never heard an answer like that before but you made it make sense. Bravo, Ren. So now, it's your turn to ask me."

"Hmm…" pondered the dark haired young man in thought. "I believe I have one now. Professor Peach, Professor Goodwitch, and Lisa Lavender."

Hearing Ren's statement caused Jaune to begin laughing uncontrollably for a short while.

"Did I say something funny?"

"Ahahaha…" continued the blonde huntsman before finally stopping. "It's just that I never thought anyone would come up with something like that."

"Is anything wrong with it?

"Nope, it's great. You usually stick to girls around your age but that works too. Umm let me think here… I got it. I would be friends with Goodwitch so she would take it easy on me in school, date Lisa Lavender because that's just cool being with someone who's on TV, and then fight Professor Peach. I'd probably win that fight because she's not around most of the time."

Ren smiled at his friend, amused by the explanation he gave.

"Okay, now your turn again. Ooh, this one should be good. Velvet, Coco, and that one friend of Ruby's, Penny."

"I would… be friends with Penny, date Velvet, and fight Coco."

"Interesting choices. So why would you do that?"

"I would want to be friends with Penny mainly because I don't know her well enough but she seems like a nice girl. I would date Velvet because…" Ren stopped midsentence as a light blush appeared on his face but he quickly hid it away. "Well I know her a little more than the other two and I think her rabbit ears are cute. Plus, I find her accent to be charming. As for Coco, she would probably fight me anyways if I chose to date Velvet. I don't think I would win that fight."

"Yeah, I definitely wouldn't either aha. I get what you're thinking. I probably would have chosen to be friends with Velvet, date Coco, and fight Penny but that's just me." responded Jaune with a grin and a hand scratching the back of his head.

"So it's my turn to ask you one again, right?"

"Yep, go ahead."

"I believe I have a better understanding of how to play now. Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha."

"Ooh, wow. Umm well…" began Jaune with some red beginning to show on his face. "Let me think for a sec here." Some time passed by before the blonde leader of JNPR made up his mind. "I know for sure now. Friends with Ruby, definitely date Pyrrha, and fight Weiss."

"Uh huh, and may I ask why?" questioned Ren with a smile of curiosity on his face.

"I'm already friends with Ruby so that makes it easy, Weiss is always against me anyways, and as for Pyrrha…" At this point, Jaune's face was almost entirely crimson. "Well she and I have just always been real close and we have been getting closer… I guess."

"So I can assume you've gotten over your infatuation with Weiss then?"

"Oh yeah, that's pretty much done. I mean, despite how Weiss comes off sometimes I think me and her are still friends for the most part so that's cool with me."

"I'm glad to hear that, Jaune. I wish you all the best in your pursuits with Pyrrha."

After Ren's remark, Jaune was now a full blown shade of red from his head to his hands. "Aww thanks, Ren." replied the blonde young man while looking down shyly. "So it's your turn to answer now, right?" said Jaune wanting to changing subjects and get himself back to normal.

"Yes it is. Whenever you're ready."

Jaune began looking up to the ceiling for a moment to come up with one for Ren. It only took a few seconds before it came to him and he quickly returned his gaze back to his friend. "Ooh, I think I've got the best one so far for you. Blake, Nora, and Yang."

Hearing the three names caused Ren to pause and think only for a brief moment before soon giving an answer back. "I would be friends with Nora, date Yang, and fight Blake."

"What was that part again?" asked Jaune after hearing how quickly his friend responded and something he said that surprised him.

"Fight Blake."

"No, before that."

"Date Yang."

"Yeah… that one. I mean I got nothing against you if you do, Yang's definitely a babe. But I'm just surprised is all."

"Why is it surprising?"

"Well, I just thought you would have chosen to date Nora or Blake. Which makes me wonder, why didn't you choose to date Nora or Blake?"

"I'm not sure really, the answer just sort of came to me without having to think it over. But I believe I can give you answers to your question. I don't think I could date Nora because the way we are now. I enjoy how close we are and the relationship we currently have with each other. If we were to start dating and it didn't work out, I wouldn't want it to ruin what we already have. And Nora can sometimes be too much for even me to handle."

That last part caused Jaune to react with a small laugh.

"As for Blake, she and I are similar in many ways and for the most part that is a good thing we have between us. But we're also both quiet and keep to ourselves which makes me feel as though we would share very little in a conversation with each other, especially if we have books to read instead. Plus, I think she's the only one I would have a fighting chance against as opposed to Nora or Yang."

"All right, all right. You make good points, but you gotta let me ask. Would you go out with Yang?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just think we're not playing the game anymore. If Yang were to ask you out, would you do it?"

"I believe I would. I mean the two of us are friends after all, but I don't entirely see how that's relevant though."

"Do you like her?"

"I do, she and I get along well enough. And I think she's nice to have as company."

"Ren, I don't think you and I are on the same page on what I'm asking you." replied Jaune with a boyish grin and holding in a laugh. "And it's kinda funny that you're not getting it."

"What are you trying to say exactly?" wondered Ren with a slight look of confusion.

"What I'm trying to say is would you, in our real life right now, date Yang and do you like her? Like as in more than a friend?"

"Oh…" responded the dark haired huntsman as everything seemed to click together in his mind at once. It only took a second before Ren realized what Jaune was implying and his face instantly shifted into a shade of red much brighter than the one he had before and this time he was unable to hide it.

Upon seeing his friend's reaction, Jaune couldn't keep his amusement in any longer as he let it all burst out. He was rolling on the floor laughing for a good chunk of time before finally calming himself back down. "Sorry, Ren. I'm not meaning to make fun of you. It's just that I've never seen you so oblivious to something before."

"I guess I just never considered doing anything like that with Yang before." answered back Ren shyly.

"Uh huh, so you never answered my questions. Do you like Yang?"

"I—"

"We're back!" excitedly exclaimed a feminine voice as the door to JNPR's dorm room abruptly burst open. The forms of Nora and Pyrrha were standing at the entrance as they soon made their way into the room.

"Sorry about coming in like that, Nora was just so excited to be back." added in Pyrrha with a reassuring smile to her teammates. "I hope we didn't startle you."

"Only a little." spoke Jaune as he was cautiously standing on top of a bed with his phone ready to be thrown at them.

"So did the two of you enjoy your night with Team RWBY?" questioned Ren who was now standing up.

"They sure did." interjected Yang as her head popped out from behind the doorway.

Seeing Yang, Ren felt a blush appear on his face for a moment before he realized it and soon hid it away.

"It was so nice and relaxing." added in Weiss as her head also popped up at the entrance above Yang's.

"You could say that again." agreed Blake as she appeared across from her partner.

"It was awesome!" called out Ruby above Blake.

"So what did you guys do?" wondered Nora as she got up real close to Ren and Jaune.

"Well Ren and I were just discussing how he liked—"

"Spending time with his good friend Jaune." finished Ren for him as he pulled in the blonde boy to give him a light elbow in the side then switched into a side hug to keep him from talking. Jaune pretty much got the picture and simply gave a cocky smirk back to his friend as he decided to just go with it.

"Yeah, what Ren said. We've just been having a fun guys' night."

"I'm glad to see that our boys kept themselves entertained. Hope the two of you didn't get into too much trouble while we were away." joked Pyrrha.

"Well…" began Jaune and Ren at the same time. "We had a long night." said the two of them simultaneously. This caused them to look at each other with a grin then chuckle together.

"Maybe we shouldn't leave them alone for too long again." teased Weiss.

"I might have to agree with Weiss on that." added in Blake lightheartedly.

"Aww I think it's cute. They bonded." spoke up Yang.

Their comments caused the two huntsmen to become slightly red with embarrassment as they turned their heads away from each other.

"Also, we missed you guys." declared Ruby as she hopped into the room.

"So much!" yelled out Nora as she pulled Jaune and Ren into a hug.

"But we were only gone from all of you for an evening." pointed out the dark haired huntsman as he his friend continued to hug them together.

"Yeah, I mean it's not like we got shipped out to Vacuo or something."

"We know, we're just happy to see you." said the red haired warrior kindly as she joined in on the hug.

"Yay, group hug." exclaimed the leader of RWBY as she also brought herself into it.

"Gotta spread the love." said Yang as she made her way over to them.

"Come here you two." spoke up the cat faunus as she also joined in.

"I hate to admit it, but I missed you too." added in Weiss completing the group hug.

"Ren?" asked the blonde haired boy with a little nervousness to his voice.

"Yes, Jaune?"

"I don't know what's going on."

"I'm not entirely sure either."

"Ssh, it's okay." whispered Nora as she squeezed a little tighter but in a loving embrace as opposed to her crushing hug from earlier that morning. "Just let us love you."

"Maybe we should spend more time without the girls for more moments like this." spoke Jaune over to Ren with a smile.

"Maybe." said Ren smiling back.


	10. Picnic Time

Author's Note: I probably don't need to make this one, but it helps me with getting my thoughts out. It feels like it's been too long since I made an update so I guess this is kinda my way of me saying sorry again to anyone reading and waiting to see how this story goes. This chapter was really taking me a while because I was having a lot of difficulty just coming up with dialogue. Hopefully, it turned out well and you guys enjoy it. 'Til next time.

\- Gray

* * *

Ch. 10 Picnic Time

"Hurry up, Yang! We're gonna be late meeting up with everyone." called out Ruby eagerly with a picnic basket in hand.

"Chill out, sis." answered back Yang as she got done packing a cooler and picked it up. "See, all packed up and ready to go."

"Yay, now let's get going." said the girl as she grabbed Yang's arm and began leading her out the door of their room.

"You know, I think you need to learn how to keep a 'cooler' head on your shoulders." spoke the blonde huntress as she playfully bopped the container to the top of her sister's head.

Ruby simply rolled her eyes at her sibling's pun at first. "Hey, I'm plenty cool. After all, I am the leader of Team RWBY, the coolest team at Beacon." replied the dark haired huntress confidently as the two of them continued walking.

"Which is the coolest because I'm on it." countered Yang as she put on her trademark sunglasses.

"Ahem." interjected a girl with white hair a little ways down the hall they were walking. "It took the two of you long enough."

"What up, Weiss?" greeted Yang as her and Ruby made it to their teammate.

"Hey, best friend!" cried out Ruby while waving her hand excitedly.

"Don't give me that, I've been waiting all morning for you two." replied Weiss haughtily as she crossed her arms when they reached her.

"Pfft, you're just being dramatic. It's not like we took that long anyw—."

"Anyways we're so sorry about making you wait." added in Ruby as she elbowed her sister in the side. "By the way, where's your stuff for the picnic?"

"It's in the city. I just need to go pick it up, which I would have done earlier had I known you guys were going to be this late."

"I get it, I get it." remarked Yang sincerely. "Seriously, my bad. I'm sorry about making you wait on us, Weiss."

"We really are."

The white huntress looked to her friends and allowed her annoyance to fade away. She uncrossed her arms and smiled to the two of them. "It's fine I guess. And I think we're still going to make it on time. That's only if we hurry a bit."

"Then let's go!" declared Ruby as she continued onward at a quicker pace while pulling Weiss and Yang along with her.

"Cool with me."

"Ruby! We don't need to go that fast!"

The three huntresses hurried their way through the campus heading for the transit station that travelled between the city of Vale and Beacon Academy.

"Hey, aren't we supposed to be meeting up with Blake?" asked the blonde brawler as they neared the transports.

"She said she would meet us here so we should be running into her any minute now."

"There she is!" called out their team leader as she pointed over to Blake. The black haired girl was standing next to one of the station's terminals while holding an enclosed platter.

Overhearing Ruby's voice, the cat faunus smiled at her friends and waved them over. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang quickly headed her way and reunited with their teammate.

"I almost thought you guys weren't going to make it." declared Blake casually.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Totally my fault." said Yang while rubbing the back of her head.

Blake responded with a small laugh at first. "It's okay. I suspected you were running a little behind, like you usually do."

Their friend's comment caused both Ruby and Weiss to giggle. "Hey, I'm not late all the time." replied her blonde partner.

"Just most of the time you mean." This remark caused the girls to laugh even more. "But we're here together and on time now so are we all ready to head out and meet up with Team JNPR?"

"You bet!"

"Of course."

"What are we waiting for?"

With that all said and done, the four members of Team RWBY left for the city of Beacon.

* * *

The spring season is now nearing its end in the city of Vale. Some citizens are getting ready for travel and going on vacation while others are preparing the city itself for the changes that summer brings. There are merchants busily putting up signs for summer sales and several children playing games outside now that they're done with school. Aside from the city itself, the nearby park is also bustling with people spending time in its serene scenery. The trees and grass are a vibrant lush green yet still well maintained. Birds and other small wildlife roam about in the wooded areas nearby. The sky is a bright crystal blue with cottony clouds hovering in its endless expanse. Many people are there simply to enjoy themselves. Barbeques are set up, all kinds of games are being played, and families are spending time together; just the usual things one would expect to see happen during the oncoming summer season.

One group of teenagers in particular found themselves a nice secluded spot away from the crowded areas of people but near enough to still watch and enjoy all the park has to offer. With their site set up directly beneath a large oak tree, the eight friends were taking a moment to just sit and relax on a red and gold checkered picnic blanket.

"This feels so nice." spoke up Jaune as he stretched out onto the blanket.

"You can say that again." added in Ruby.

"I'm so glad we were able to do this together." said Pyrrha while smiling to everyone around her.

"Definitely couldn't ask for a better time than this." commented Yang as she continued to bask in the warmth of the sun.

It almost seemed like everyone let out a relaxed breath of air at the same time as a gentle breeze rolled in. The moment of tranquility carried on a little longer until it was finally broken.

"Well I'm hungry!" declared Nora. "What did everyone bring to eat?"

Nora's fellow huntsmen and huntresses simply grinned at her when she broke the calm in her usual manner. The two teams grabbed their food items and readied them to be shared.

"Here, I'll go first." volunteered the red haired warrior of JNPR. She moved a container to the center of group and prepared to open it. "I thought about going with something simple like chips and dip, but then I decided to make it a little more special by preparing it myself."

Pyrrha opened the container to show a brownish sauce in the middle surrounded by crisp bread squares. "It's something I remembered growing up with in Mistral. These are pita chips which are basically just baked and seasoned bread, and hummus, a spread you dip them in. I was thinking this would make for a good appetizer, and hopefully they turned out well."

"Pyrrha, this looks amazing." stated her blonde leader.

"Why thank you, Jaune." Pyrrha answered back with a blush.

"It looks delicious." remarked Weiss.

"Ooh, I wanna go next!" called out Ruby excitedly as she put down her picnic basket. "I made…" The leader of RWBY slowly opened her basket to reveal several round flat objects. "Chocolate chip cookies!"

"Yummy!" exclaimed Nora as she attempted to reach for one of the cookies. However, her hand was soon stopped by the swatting hand of Ren.

"Nora, you can have cookies later. Otherwise, you'll ruin your appetite."

"Aww but I want them now."

"Come on, Ren." pleaded Ruby. "Can't she have just one? I plan on eating one myself."

"No you're not, baby sister."

"What?!" cried out the dark haired huntress as she turned to face Yang.

"I'm with Ren. You can have cookies afterwards for dessert. But no sweets until then."

"But, but, but—"

"No buts." interrupted the blonde brawler even though a part of her wanted to giggle at what she just said. "I'm the one looking after you since dad's not here so you need to listen to me and eat properly."

"Fine." admitted Ruby in defeat. "Can we hurry up then so Nora and I can have cookies?"

"Sure." spoke up Jaune. "I'll go next. I brought drinks for everyone."

The blonde haired huntsman brought forward some gallons containing liquid in them. "Let's see, we got water, sweet iced tea, and lemonade. That's pretty much it. Who's next?"

"I'll go." stated Weiss as she came forward and placed her fancy platter before the group then lifted off the lid. "I brought freshly made finger sandwiches. It's a mix of some of the finest meats and cheeses from the best delicatessen in the city."

"Umm… wow, Weiss." commented Yang.

"You sure went all out." added in Blake.

"Why of course, I only wanted the best for my close friends."

"Awww." spoke everyone else at once.

"What?" questioned the white heiress with a blush beginning to show on her face.

"It's nothing." replied Pyrrha kindly. "We're just very thankful. It looks lovely, Weiss."

"I hope all of you like it." said Weiss as she turned away trying to regain her composure.

"I'm sure we'll love it." responded Ruby to her partner. "So who'd like to go next?"

"Ooh me!" called out the orange haired huntress as she slammed her bowl down in front of them then opened it up. "It's potato salad! I made it myself! With some of Ren's help I mean."

"It's one of the few dishes that Nora enjoys making." stated the dark haired young man with a small grin.

"Why is that?" wondered Yang curiously.

"Just think about it."

Hearing his response caused everyone else aside from Ren and Nora to pause and imagine what exactly he meant. It didn't take long before they all saw in their heads an excited Nora in a messy kitchen violently smashing a bunch of potatoes with her weapon Magnhild.

"Oh." clicked the entire group at once.

"I'm sure that'll go along well with the sandwiches that Weiss brought." stated Pyrrha.

"Next?" called out Ruby.

Without delay, Blake coolly brought her dish forward and opened it up to reveal an assorted platter of fruits with a light pink, thick cream in the center of it. "I just made a fruit salad with a sweet flavored dip."

"Simple but healthy." pointed out Ren.

"Ooh, I love strawberries!" exclaimed the leader of Team RWBY.

"Don't eat all of them, sis." added in Yang playfully causing everyone to laugh.

"So Ren, what did you bring?" questioned Jaune to his fellow huntsman after everyone calmed back down.

"I brought…" began the dark haired young man as he placed an exotic looking container in front of him. The container appeared to be a small square black tower.

"What is that?" wondered Weiss.

"Oh this? It's called a bento box. This one just happens to be three tiered so it can hold more food in it." After undoing the cloth holding the box together, Ren removed the top lid then separated out the three containers in front of him. In each box, there were all different kinds of rice rolls throughout them.

It took only a split second before the cat faunus realized what the food was and darted right up next to Ren. With a mix of joy and excitement in her eyes, Blake couldn't help herself from drooling as the scent of fish enticed her senses. She looked at the huntsman beside her, intently focused on him. "Is that… what I think it is?"

"Umm, if you're thinking that it's sushi then yes. Yes it is." answered Ren somewhat cautiously. Everyone else was now looking at the unusual behavior that Blake was displaying.

The black haired girl eagerly licked her lips at the dish in front of her. "What all did you put in them? If you don't mind me asking I mean."

"Well let's see. The traditional vegetables like carrot, avocado, and cucumber. As for meats, I used eel, crab, salmon, and tuna—"

Before he could continue, Blake had reached out and grasped Ren by his shoulders. He felt quite alarmed as he looked down at the cat faunus in front of him. Blake's face was what some could probably only describe as pure bliss. "Ren… thank you, thank you, thank you."

"You're… welcome." He answered back trying to appear calm.

"Easy there, Ms. Touchy." spoke up Yang as she got a hold of her teammate and pulled her away from Ren. "Sorry about that. She'll be fine after we start eating. So where were we?"

"It's just you now, sis." stated Ruby.

"The best for last then." replied the blonde huntress cockily as she put the cooler down in front of the group then opened it up. "Because it wouldn't feel like summer without it, I brought ice cream for all of us."

"Yay! Ice cream!" cried out Nora as she jumped up.

"I scream for ice cream!" yelled Ruby in a similar fashion.

"And this is exactly why I said for you to wait until dessert to have sweets. Surprise."

"What all flavors did you bring?" asked Weiss.

"We got mint chocolate chip, double strawberry sundae, chocolate fudge brownie, and my personal favorite Neapolitan."

"All of them sound quite tasty." commented Pyrrha.

"Sweet, I love ice cream." added Jaune excitedly.

"Well let's hurry up and get to eating already so we can get to dessert." replied Yang.

"Banzai!" exclaimed the leader of Team RWBY as she got a paper plate and began grabbing food. The rest of her team followed suit and yelled out "Banzai!" as well.

Team JNPR looked at each other confused at first with the battle cry that their friends just made but decided to go along with it.

"Banzai!" declared Team JNPR as well.

* * *

The group of friends spent a good hour or so eating and enjoying their picnic feast before they were finally satisfied. After finishing their meal, they were all either lazily sitting down or sleepily lying out on the red and gold picnic blanket.

"I'm so full." stated Jaune. "But happy full."

"Me too."

"I couldn't eat another bite."

"Yep."

"I could probably skip dinner."

Nora's response was simply a thunderous belch.

"Most satisfying."

"Indeed."

The dark haired leader of RWBY was the first one to get back on her feet. "Oh, before we forget, we have something to give to the guys. Jaune and Ren, could you please come forward?"

The two huntsmen looked at each other with perplexed faces but decided to go along with it. Weiss then stood up and made her way over to stand next to Ruby. "Now, both of you close your eyes and stick out your hands."

"This better not be a prank again like what you guys did to me earlier this year." stated Jaune suspiciously. "I still have nightmares about that."

"No prank, dude." replied Yang. "And we said we were sorry like a thousand times already."

"Tell that to all the pairs of underwear I lost."

"Don't worry, Jaune." spoke up Pyrrha. "It'll be fine, you can trust us."

The blonde young man let out a breath to relax. "Well okay, I trust you guys. Ren, you ready?"

"Sure." The two boys then closed their eyes and stretched out their hands. A moment later they both felt something being given to them.

"Okay, open your eyes now."

Jaune and Ren looked down to see a wrapped gift now in each of their possessions.

"Surprise!" declared all their female friends at once.

"Cool!"

"I don't get it." responded Ren stoically. "Why are we receiving these?"

"They're apology gifts." said Weiss sincerely. "I felt bad, I mean, we all felt bad that we left you guys out the other night so consider this our way of making it up to the two of you."

"Oh I see, you have my sincerest thanks then."

"Same here, thank you guys." added in Jaune.

"Go ahead and open them, you two." commented Pyrrha.

Without a moment of hesitation, the blonde haired fighter tore into the wrapping of his gift and was soon overjoyed by what he saw. "Oh no way! Yes! Thank you guys so much!"

"What did you get, Jaune?" asked his fellow huntsman.

"Compost King Simulator 2! I've been wanting to get this since it came out a month ago. The game adds a bunch more new features and expands from the previous one, and really lets you get creative with how you run your compost piles. Also, they added online multiplayer. Oh man, I can't wait to start playing this as soon as we get back."

"That's… great, Jaune." answered back Ren with as much of a supportive smile as he could muster.

"So what'd you get, Ren?"

"Let's see, I got…" began the dark haired young man as he gently removed the wrapping paper from his gift. "A book. It's titled 'Hunt or be Hunted: Memoirs of a Huntsman at War'. Interesting name."

"We weren't really sure on what to get you." spoke up Ruby honestly.

"Yeah… I suggested kung fu movies, but we decided to go with Nora on this and she really only told us that you like to read books sometimes." added in Yang.

"Yup, yup. He sure does."

"And so…" continued Pyrrha. "Weiss, Blake, and I went looking around the book store until we finally came across one we thought you might like."

"We hope that you do." stated Weiss. "Blake was the one who found it and picked it out."

"It's a unique kind of autobiography." explained the black haired girl. "I just read a brief summary of what it's about before grabbing it. The facts and people in it are true and what happens in it takes place during the Faunus Rights Revolution. The story, or history rather, is about a master Huntsman who was sent to help put an end to the faunus uprising as they were calling it back then. After seeing all the violence and bloodshed firsthand, he chose to disobey his orders and instead fought to bring peace between humans and the faunus. Branded a traitor and a deserter, the lone Huntsman was relentlessly pursued by his former allies along with still being considered an enemy by most of the faunus forces. Despite all this, he would appear and disappear across battlefields leaving countless broken weapons and defeated soldiers in his wake but without a single casualty. Nobody can recall the man's name, or it might be that anyone who knew him purposely kept his identity a secret. The writers aren't even sure if he lived to see the war's end or the peace that followed, but everyone who helped in making that book will always remember the lives he saved and the impact he left behind."

"That sounds like an amazing story." commented Ren with a smile.

"So does that you mean you like it?" wondered Nora excitedly.

"I do, and it just so happens to cover a subject I thoroughly enjoy as well. All of you have my thanks once again and I'll definitely begin reading it here very soon." answered back the huntsman in green with a formal bow.

"Yay for giving gifts and having awesome friends." shouted out Ruby.

Together as a group, they cheered and clapped in a small celebratory manner.

Once they were all done, Ruby made her way over to the blonde young man of the group. "Oh and one more thing, Jaune."

"Yeah Ruby?"

"Tag! You're it!" declared the girl in red as she tapped Jaune then sped off.

"Really?"

"You gotta tag me or someone else!"

"Fine then!" answered back the huntsman playfully as he got to his feet. He turned to see who around him he could tag when he noticed Nora already up on her feet.

"Betcha can't catch me!" exclaimed the orange haired girl as she teasingly smacked Jaune's head as she bolted past him.

"Oh, it's on now!" shouted Jaune as he headed in the direction of the two girls.

The remaining members of the team simply looked on and smiled as their friends had their fun. Eventually, Ren sat up and reached out to tap the blonde girl beside him.

"Hey, Yang?"

Still lying down with her arms behind her head like a pillow, the huntress opened her eyes and looked over to the dark haired young man right next to her. "Need something, Ren?"

"I was hoping I could discuss something with you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"The exam for Professor Goodwitch's class."

"Seriously, Ren? Like right now? Why don't we just keep taking it easy for a while and not think or even worry about school?"

"I suppose we could do that, but you are my partner for this assignment after all and I want us to perform well on it. And I believe the best way to do that would be for us to begin planning earlier rather than later."

"And what's make you think that we won't do well?" asked Yang as she shifted her body up to face her partner. "Are you trying to say something about me, Ren?"

"No, that's not what I meant at all." He answered back with a calm smile. "I'm sure you and I will work out quite well together. I know how skilled you are in combat, but I also think that we can still improve—"

"Improve, huh? Are you saying I'm not good enough for you?" interjected Yang curiously as she was now lying down on her stomach staring up at Ren.

This new position of Yang's caused her well-endowed feminine assets to push together and inadvertently draw Ren's attention towards them. He could feel a blush appearing on his face as he tried to keep his eyes focused with Yang's.

"What I mean to say is that you are, without a doubt, highly proficient in combat and I just thought that we could perhaps begin practicing on fighting together sooner rather than later so as to not have me be a hindrance to you." spoke out Ren quicker than he meant to.

"Easy there, Ren. It's cool, I was just messing with you." answered back the blonde brawler teasingly as she got up into a sitting position next to the dark haired huntsman then gave him a light punch to the arm. "And yeah, I get what you mean. That does sound like a smart idea so what'd you have in mind exactly?"

After keeping himself composed, the dark haired huntsman simply smiled back to his new partner at first. 'This is going to take some getting used to.' thought Ren to himself. 'She's different from Nora, but I feel like we'll be able to make this partnership work between us. I hope she feels the same.'

"I thought we could start with something simple for later today. Just a casual sparring session if you're up for it."

"Sparring, huh? Well I'm always in the mood for working up a good sweat, so sure. I'd be happy to go spar with you, Ren. Just be prepared to get knocked down on your butt a lot."

He let out a small chuckle before responding. "Great, I'm glad to hear that."

As they were talking, neither Yang nor Ren noticed that more of their friends had gotten pulled into the game of tag that Ruby started. At this point, they were the only two left on the picnic blanket not currently playing with everyone else.

"So what time did you want to go do that today?" asked Yang to her partner.

"I had seven o'clock in mind, that way we could both eat before then."

"Cool, seven sounds great to me." spoke the blonde brawler with a smile.

"Good, we'll meet at seven in the gymnasium then." Ren said while smiling back at her.

"Hey Yang!" called out a bubbly voice near the huntress.

"Yeah, Nora?"

"Tag! You're it! No tag backs!" declared Nora as she tapped Yang before running off.

Yang smiled at first realizing what just happened. She then looked around to finally notice that everyone else aside from herself and Ren were already playing in the game. The other members of RWBY and JNPR were off in the distance hiding somewhat and waving back at her. Standing up on her feet, the blonde brawler rolled her neck and stretched out her arms.

"Hey, Ren?"

"Yes, Yang?"

"Would you be okay helping me with something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Could you stand up for me please?" asked Yang kindly while extending her hand to him.

"Of course. Now what?" as he reached out and allowed his partner to help him up.

"Thanks, and now you're it." replied the blonde huntress playfully as she gently poked Ren on the forehead.

"Wait, what?"

"You're it." stated Yang before running off to join the rest of her friends.

"I'm it? I'm it." spoke the young man slowly in realization.

Ren watched closely as the girl with long flowing blonde locks dashed across the field of glistening grass. He felt a great sense of ease and calm wash over him from the mix of green and yellow in his view. The dark haired huntsman couldn't help but smile before following after her.


	11. First Practice

Ch. 11 First Practice

A blur of yellow and black rushed through the hallways of Beacon Academy.

'Crap, I'm gonna be late.' thought the lilac eyed huntress as she sped to her destination.

After a few more minutes of running, Yang eventually made it to the school's gym. She decided to take a moment to peek in from the windows before heading inside. When the blonde girl did, she instantly noticed her partner already there sitting in some type of meditative stance with a water bottle close to him. The young man wasn't wearing his usual green huntsman attire. Instead, he had on a light gray Beacon academy hoodie that was currently zipped up along with black track pants that had two pink stripes going down each side of it. His shoes were some type of martial art slippers and his palms had white hand wraps on them. Without wasting another moment, Yang opened up a set of double doors and proceeded to make her way toward the statuesque huntsman.

"Hey there, Ren. Sorry about being late." declared the blonde brawler with a smile as she reached her partner. After greeting him, Yang pulled out a water bottle of her own and set it down next to his.

Ren calmly opened up his eyes and looked up to the girl standing in front of him. The first thing he noticed was that Yang's hair was tied up in a ponytail, quite different from the free flowing golden locks he was used to seeing. She was dressed in a faded black pullover hoodie along with a pair of black and yellow yoga shorts that were the same length as her usual shorts in her huntress attire. She also had on knee-high orange socks with white running shoes and her normal fingerless gloves. He responded with a grin before getting up to his feet.

"It's okay. You're only…" began the dark haired huntsman as he looked to the giant digital clock on one of the walls. "Five minutes late. You actually got here earlier than I thought you would."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" retorted Yang.

"Well… it's just that—"

"It's just what exactly?"

"It's just that I've noticed how tardy you've been with some of your classes as of late, especially in the past month or so."

"Uh huh, and how would you know that, Ren?" questioned his new partner suspiciously.

"Because I am in a third of your classes, and because I like being attentive with how my friends perform in school, in case I could lend them some assistance in any way. Also, Blake informed me that you would more than likely be late." answered Ren with a mild smirk on the last part.

The blonde brawler let out a sigh in acceptance. "Fine, you got me there. And yeah, Blake knows all about that. She's had to drag my butt to class a few times more than usual to keep me from missing it."

"May I ask if there is any particular reason why you've been falling behind as you have?"

"Well, I wouldn't say I was falling behind…" replied Yang as she turned her gaze away from Ren's inquiring eyes.

"Right… so what would you call it then?"

"I guess I've just been kinda lazy is all. It's no big deal."

"Do you have any idea why you feel that way?"

"I don't know, guess I'm just bored and want to be done with school already. You know, the usual summer break fever that everyone gets. Why'd you wanna know?"

"Because it causes me concern when my friends are having trouble, and I want to be able to help them if I can."

"Aww, are you worried about me?" teased the blonde brawler as she leaned in closer.

A slight blush began to appear on Ren's face before he quickly hid it away. "Of course I am. You are one of my friends after all. So is there anything I can do to help you?"

"That's nice of you, Ren. But I'll be fine, really. So don't worry about me. 'Kay?" replied Yang with a big bright smile.

Ren gave a contemplative look at first but he eventually smiled back at her. "If you say so, I'll trust you. But I do have a question."

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"How often should I plan for you being late on me?"

"Just this one time, I promise." answered back Yang as she playfully punched Ren's arm.

"Understood. Well are you ready for us to get started on practice now?"

"Ready whenever you are."

"Glad to hear it. As with any workout, we should always start off with stretches before we do any exercising." stated Ren as he looked away to reach into his pocket for his scroll.

"Way ahead of you." responded the lilac eyed girl as she was in the process of pulling off her hooded sweatshirt.

"So I was thinking we should…" When he returned his attention back to his partner, the magenta eyed huntsman completely forgot what he was about to say as his mind went blank. Ren's loss of concentration happened as soon as his eyes noticed the upper half of Yang's body. She was wearing a black and yellow sports bra that matched with her shorts. The reason it had caused Ren to stop talking was because the way it made her look. The piece of clothing caused the blonde girl's already well-endowed form to be even more captivating. It helped in showing off the proportions and cleavage of Yang's chest. Subconsciously, Ren was staring at it along with the rest of her body. He examined the girl's voluptuous hips through her skintight shorts, enthralled by the way Yang's curves complimented her figure. Ren's eyes then slowly followed from her legs up to her waist. As he looked over Yang's perfectly toned stomach, he couldn't help but think about how taut yet also smooth to the touch it must be. Soon, his mind and eyes were back at the blonde huntress's breasts. Ren thought about how soft and supple they must feel eventually leading him to try to imagine what they looked like by themselves without her bra on. Unknowingly to him, Ren's evocative thoughts about Yang had already begun to affect the lower male part of him.

"You think we should what? Ren? Ren? You still with me, Ren?"

The young huntsman snapped back to reality as he heard Yang calling his name. Entirely forgetting to grab his scroll, Ren took a moment to shake his head to just refocus on what he was saying before his mind wandered off.

"You okay there?"

Ren brought his attention back to Yang, this time making eye contact with her. As he looked at his partner, he noticed that she was apparently still in the process of stretching. It was then the huntsman realized what he had just been doing. He now noticed the tightness in his pants, felt his entire body heat up, and was sure that his face was red with embarrassment. "Yeah, yeah, never better. I'm fine. Completely fine." replied Ren trying to remain calm and sound like his usual self as he turned his body away.

"You sure?" wondered Yang as she finished up a stretch then focused on her partner. "Because one second you were in the middle of talking to me then you just stopped. I thought you were just thinking or something so I kept on stretching. But then you didn't say anything for like a minute so that was starting to weird me out. If you're not feeling okay, we could always do this some other time. You actually look like you're running a fever or something."

After hearing Yang's response, Ren felt the sensation of relief wash over him. This feeling almost instantly caused some of the redness to fade from his complexion. He let out a thankful sigh and tried to fill his mind with boring thoughts to calm the lower half of his body even further. Eventually, Ren's mind went back to what just happened a moment ago. 'Thank goodness Yang didn't catch me staring at her like that. Wait… why was I staring at her like that? I shouldn't have even been doing anything like that in the first place. I don't ever do anything like that. Perhaps, there is something wrong with me.'

Before Ren could continue his train of thought, he felt a pair of hands gently being placed on his shoulders. "Hey Ren, you're spacing out on me again." spoke Yang with a concerned tone in her voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just got lost in my thoughts again."

"Yeah, I noticed. Just stay still for a sec."

"Wait, what are you—"

"Sshhh." responded the blonde brawler as she moved her hands from Ren's shoulders to the sides of his head. She began looking intently at his face.

The dark haired young man could feel his face heat up again along with his heartbeat speeding up this time. 'What is she doing?'

The answer to Ren's question was soon made clear as Yang closed her eyes and pressed her forehead up against his. He didn't know how to react and felt his entire body tense up and freeze. The physical contact between them lasted for only a brief moment before the huntress pulled herself away and removed her hands from him. As soon as she was done, Ren could feel his body slowly starting to relax.

"You're a little warm, but I don't think you have a fever. Maybe we should just have you drink plenty of water tonight and do this tomorrow instead." suggested the blonde huntress as she picked up her container of water and offered it to him.

The young huntsman now understood that Yang had just been checking his temperature. Ren couldn't help himself from smiling after seeing the care his partner gave towards him. Taking a slow deep breath, he calmed his mind and pulled his composure back together.

"Thank you for your concern, Yang, and for examining me. But I assure you I'll be fine. It's just… warm in here. I believe I'm just overheating a little because I'm wearing this." stated Ren sounding like his normal self as he motioned to his hoodie. "And because I was already in here for twenty minutes before you arrived. It's my own fault for not anticipating how hot I would get. I'm certain I'll be alright after I get hydrated and turn on the air conditioning."

"Oh, why didn't you just say so? You know, instead of spacing out and making it awkwardly quiet in here." teased Yang as she threw her bottle at him.

With fast reflexes, Ren easily caught the liquid container. "Hmm, perhaps it could have something to do with me getting used to the silence in here because 'someone' showed up late." smirked Ren as he was glad he got Yang to believe him.

"You jerk!" declared the blonde girl in mock anger as she slugged Ren in the arm.

He continued smirking at her. "Slacker."

Yang was totally surprised at the way Ren was joking back with her. Of all people, she didn't think Ren had it in him to sound the least bit sarcastic, but Yang now realized she was mistaken. That for some reason made her grin. "Just go turn on the AC and drink some water before you pass out on me." replied the blonde brawler as she playfully pushed her partner away.

Ren smiled once more at Yang before taking a quick drink from her water bottle. After he was done, the huntsman tossed it back to her then headed over to the nearby panel that controlled the temperature for their section of the building. He pressed some buttons on the digital display and soon cool air began to vent through the gym.

"Ah, much better." exclaimed the huntress as she felt her body enjoying the cooling breeze from the air conditioning.

Once the magenta eyed young man finished turning on the AC, he soon made his way back to his partner.

"Took you long enough." joked Yang when Ren got back to her. She gave a teasing wink to him before taking a drink of water then threw the bottle over to where her sweatshirt was after she was done.

Ren merely shook his head in response to his friend before doing the same as her and also drinking some water, this time from his own bottle. After taking another drink, he set his bottle down, removed his hoodie, and then tossed both of them off to the side near where Yang's belongings were. Next, the dark haired young man began doing some stretches. The huntress had been taking note of her partner the moment he took off his piece of clothing.

'Oh… wow.' thought Yang to herself as she watched Ren.

He was wearing a dark forest green sleeveless compression shirt, but that wasn't what interested the blonde girl. Rather, it was the way he looked in it. With how close-fitting the shirt was on Ren, she could see all the well-defined muscles of his body. The huntress decided to take this time to look closely at her partner, soon realizing just how in shape Ren kept himself in. Her curious gaze began at his bare upper arms. They were larger than she expected them to be, but then again aside from seeing him in his sleepwear the other night, Yang had really only seen Ren in either his huntsman attire or his school uniform. She also didn't notice how incredibly toned his arms were until now. As Yang continued to observe Ren, her eyes focused next on his chest. She took a moment to admire how firm his pecs appeared through his tight clothing before slowly moving onto his abs. The blonde brawler could make out the finely sculpted muscles of his stomach and simply marveled the way they moved as he did his stretches.

'Have I never checked Ren out before? Has he always looked that good? I wonder what he looks like without that shirt on, and maybe without anything else on either… bad Yang, he's your friend and your partner… but I can't help it that he looks really hot right now.'

Surely enough, Yang's mind was now beginning to wonder what his body felt like. This eventually led to the blonde girl imagining herself using her hands to feel up on a shirtless Ren. Starting at his arms, the huntress began tracing her hands across him. She slowly moved from his biceps to his shoulders. From there, she worked her way down pausing at his chest for a moment to feel the warmth of his body. Yang continued on carefully working her fingers over the curves of his lower torso, enjoying the smooth firmness of his stomach muscles against her skin. She didn't want to stop there though and let her hands wander down even further. Without realizing it, Yang had sensually bit her lower lip as she carried on with her vivid imagination.

"Yang."

"That's right, baby. Say my name."

"Wait what?"

"Huh?" questioned the blonde brawler as she felt her eyes snap open. In her vision, Yang saw a confused Ren staring back at her. 'Oh, must've said that out loud… crap.'

"Yang, I'm not sure what's going on." spoke a still baffled Ren. "But are you alright?"

"Oh yeah, I'm great. I was just… daydreaming. That's all it was. I guess more like nightdreaming now, am I right?" responded the blushing huntress trying to lighten the mood as she rubbed the back of her head. 'Just a sexy nightdream… about the guy right in front of me.'

"Okay… I think it would probably be best for me to not even ask."

"I wouldn't tell you about it if you did. Well maybe, but I think we would both have to be drunk for that. And you would also have to forget it after I told you."

"I understand, I think." answered back Ren honestly. At this point, the dark haired huntsman thought it best to just stay focused and actually try starting their fighting practice for the night. 'This has definitely been the most distracting and confusing training session I've ever been a part of, and we haven't even started yet.'

"Anyways, you were trying to tell me something?" asked Yang in her usual tone with her complexion back to normal.

"Yes. As I was going to say earlier, before both of us were about to stretch and then got entirely sidetracked—"

"Same goes for me."

"Indeed." said Ren with a small grin. "I was thinking we should have regularly scheduled practices every night this coming week at this same time. The practices would need to be only an hour or two depending on what we worked on and I believe that would provide more than enough training for us to be adequately prepared for the exam on Friday."

"Wow, Ren. Sounds like you put a lot of thought into this." spoke Yang impressed.

"I guess you could say that. All I did really was read through all the information that Professor Goodwitch sent us then prepared a simplified set of guidelines for us to follow from it. I also considered some basic points of combat we should probably work on, but I won't be able to plan out anything further until after we've finished sparring a few times or so."

"When did you find the time to do all that?" questioned his blonde partner in disbelief.

"After we had finished our picnic from earlier, I began studying and preparing for the exam as soon as I got back to the dorms. It was nothing too in-depth, it was mostly just to get a general idea on what we needed to do to be ready."

"That sounds like it took a lot of work. Probably way too much for me."

"It wasn't as bad as you think."

"Sure, for you maybe. I didn't even want to try reading any of the stuff Goodwitch gave us. My plan was to just wing it, that's usually my plan for most things."

"I'm sure you could do just as well if you tried. After all, Yang, you are an exceptionally skilled and talented huntress." stated the huntsman with a supportive smile.

"Aww thanks, Ren. You're not too bad yourself." complimented back Yang with a blush. "But how about we just let you do all the planning for our workouts and I'll stick to doing the working out part."

"Fair enough." agreed Ren after realizing he wasn't going to change Yang's mind.

"See, we already got our teamwork down." spoke the blonde brawler with a thumbs-up.

"I think we need to do a little more than just agreeing on something to say we're done with teamwork." casually said the huntsman in response.

"True, but the rest will be easy from here."

"Oh, and what makes you say that?"

"Because you have me as your partner." declared Yang while pointing to herself. "And when it comes to fighting and needing someone to hit things, I'm the best there is at it."

"I actually don't doubt you on that. However, we are a team, Yang, so you don't need to be doing any of that alone. You can depend on me the same way you would with Blake. I'll be there for you if you need me and I hope you're willing do the same for me."

"Of course, Ren. And I'm glad to hear you say that." spoke the blonde huntress with a gentle smile.

"I'm glad as well." replied Ren as he smiled back. "Furthermore, we should probably get started on practice now. If you're still up for it, that is."

"We are already here and I think we got whatever was going on with us out of our systems now, so I say we might as well do it."

"My thoughts exactly. Just let me look at some of my notes for a moment before we continue." replied Ren as he reached into his pocket and brought out his scroll. After waking it up, the huntsman began reading some of the info aloud to his partner. "Let's see, I wanted us to start off by talking and discussing with each other any issues we might be having personally or in school. I believe we covered that right at the beginning."

"Wait a sec." interjected Yang. "You wrote down that we needed to talk things out?"

"Yes. It's important to know the mental condition of your partner and to help them in any way you can. It's to ensure they have a clear and focused mindset so they can perform to the best of their abilities. This is part of the team bonding process if I'm not mistaken."

"Ren, not to sound mean or anything, but it's really weird you did that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that no one really ever plans on talking out their problems. It just happens, you know. You can't plan for everything, something unexpected can happen any second and you won't always be ready for it when it does. So you just deal with it whenever it happens and you try to make things turn out for the best. You just gotta take it nice and easy sometimes, and let yourself go with the flow."

"I never thought about it like that before." responded the dark haired young man. "That was incredibly insightful. You are wiser than you know, Yang."

"I don't know if you're right about that, but that's just how I approach and handle things in my life I guess. Like how you and I became partners for this exam. It was unexpected, but it feels like we're doing pretty good so far. And the main thing I was trying to say is that if you want to get to know me, just hang out with me. Don't plan it out like it's homework for school. We're friends, Ren, and we can go do things together anytime like we would with any of our other friends. But instead, it'll just be you and me."

'Hold on, did I just make that sound like Ren and I were going on a date? Doesn't matter right now, I was in the middle of saying things.'

"So if you want to go do stuff that isn't boring and has nothing to do with school then just tell me, and we'll go do fun stuff together. Got it?"

"Yes, Yang, I understand what you're saying." answered back Ren with a smile.

"Good. So was there anything else on your scroll that involves us hitting each other instead of talking out our feelings?"

"Actually, yes. I really only had three points for us to cover tonight. We did the first one, the second one is us sparring, and the third one is for us to review how our sparring went. Since we started later than I thought we would, we're running a little more behind than expected but that shouldn't be a problem. We have plenty of time still and I'm sure we can make up for it. I just didn't intend on keeping you out much later than what I planned for. Are you fine staying out with me?"

"It's totally fine, Ren. Also there you go again." spoke Yang as she teasingly poked her partner in the chest.

"I'm sorry."

"You couldn't have known that we'd start this late so you don't need to apologize. If it happens, it happens. This is our first time teaming up and neither one of us knew what to expect. But what I know for sure now is that we're both really bad at getting distracted when it's just us. Like so bad that we could've been surrounded by a herd of Grimm in this room and we wouldn't have noticed, or even cared."

Ren chuckled at the blonde brawler's comment. "You're right, and that's a valid point."

"Also, Ren, could you just try to sound a little less like an adult?"

"I'm not sure what you mean." he said with a sudden look of confusion.

"What I'm saying is that you act really mature for your age, probably way more mature than you should. That's not a bad thing, but you also gotta remember that you're still not an adult yet either. I mean look you're the same age as me, so you don't have to act that responsible all the time. Just try to let loose when you can and enjoy yourself for now. You can always worry about having to deal with all that other stuff when you're older."

"Hmm, I guess that's just how I've always been. I'm sorry if I come off that way, I'm not meaning to."

"It's okay, just let yourself lighten up a bit and you'll feel better. I promise." assured Yang with a smile.

"I'll try my best to do that then." said Ren with a smile back.

"Good, because when you talk like that all the time it makes you sound like a teacher."

"Do I now?"

"Yeah it does. And now that I think about it, you probably wouldn't do too bad as a teacher. I can already imagine it, you at Beacon teaching the new huntsmen and huntresses. Just don't do that around me, Professor Lie Ren." said the lilac eyed huntress playfully.

"Oh, and what makes you think you'll be able to skip out on my class, Miss Xiao Long?" responded the dark haired young man in a mock tone of authority.

"Really? You're gonna say my name like that."

"As your teacher, I cannot tolerate this type of behavior. You require discipline."

'Two can play at this game.' thought Yang.

"Do I? I mean, I guess I do." spoke the huntress slowly in a seductive tone. "After all, I've been such a bad student. How would you like to discipline me, professor?" Putting on an innocent face, the blonde girl brought her hand up and shyly bit her thumb.

'Oh no… this was a mistake.' realized Ren as he felt the entirety of his body react. The huntsman could feel the heat rushing to his head and was sure his face was red again. If he didn't know any better, Ren considered the possibility of him getting a nosebleed. He also noticed the tightness now present in his pants and his heart was racing once more. His mind had slowed down trying to come up with something to say.

"I would like…"

"Uh huh." added in Yang as she stepped in closer.

"To have you…"

"Have me what?" asked the blonde girl who was only inches away from her partner.

'I'm trapped.' thought Ren to himself nervously. 'But I can't let her know that. I don't know what to say or do… wait, what was it that Yang told me earlier? To just go with the flow. Hmm, what would she do in this situation? This gives me an idea, let's see if it works.'

Instead of backing away, the dark haired young man moved himself closer in to Yang. Ren's face was now only a breath away from his partner's. This caught the huntress off guard and caused a blush to appear on her complexion. He waited for a moment of time to pass by while keeping his gaze locked on her. The blonde girl didn't even notice her body freeze up.

He then showed off a cocky smirk to her. "Be let off with a warning for today." Ren gave a quick wink before turning away and taking a couple steps back from her.

A look of utter surprise was plastered on Yang's face after the huntsman walked away. 'Did he really just do that? Did he just outdo me? He just outdid me! That's exactly what I was gonna do to him! I'm so gonna get Ren back for that. Although, I gotta give it to the guy for how smooth he did that. I sure didn't see that coming.'

"Why thank you, professor." replied Yang sensually as she started moving herself closer to Ren. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

The blonde huntress began reaching a hand out toward him but was stopped by Ren gently brushing it away. He turned back to face her, a grin breaking through his composure.

"Please keep your hands to yourself, Miss Xiao Long." stated the huntsman still in his fake authoritative voice. "We wouldn't want the other students and faculty to the get the wrong idea about us. After all, I am your teacher."

At this point, Yang could tell that Ren was trying to keep himself from laughing. Yang wanted to start laughing too, but she decided to keep going with it. In fact, Ren's response gave her an idea to make it more fun. Keeping some of the sensuality in her voice, the huntress added in a dash of dramatic soap opera. "But professor, you're the only one here who understands me. I don't care what anyone else thinks! I want you and only you."

'Ahahaha.' Ren was laughing in his head but decided to not break just yet and continued to go along with Yang's change in mood. The huntsman put on his best dramatic actor voice. "It is forbidden. We cannot be together, a teacher and his student. It's obscene, it's unethical, it's just… wrong." declared Ren as he turned his head away.

"I don't care that's it wrong." responded Yang as she used her hand to turn him back to face her. "To me, it feels… so right."

"No, I can't. I would be taking advantage of you."

"There's nothing to take advantage of. I want this."

"Yang, we—"

"Sshhh." whispered the lilac eyed huntress as she placed a finger on her partner's lips. "Don't fight your feelings, Ren. Just let them pour out of you. It's okay if you want to cry, because I'm already crying on the inside for you. My lonely heart is crying with such an overwhelming love for you that I can barely contain it. I—"

"Ahahahaha. Okay, stop. Just stop, you got me. I can't take it anymore." stated the dark haired huntsman as he began to bellow with laughter.

Seeing her partner unable to contain himself caused Yang to laugh uncontrollably along with him. The two friends spent a good amount of time just laughing between them before they finally calmed back down.

"Hey, I didn't even get to the best part."

"Seriously? Where does it even go from there?"

"It would've gone something like my love being a raging fire that only your soothing rain could calm down, or something close to that. I've heard way worse."

"How do you know that?"

"My dad used to watch a lot of soap operas."

"Ah, I see. Well you gave an excellent performance, bravo." said Ren while applauding.

"Why thank you, my fellow actor." responded Yang with a bow. "You did pretty great yourself, which makes me wonder… why do you know how to do that too?"

"Jaune likes watching them, and because the cafeteria staff likes having soap operas playing all the time when I'm working with them in the kitchen."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Both of them gave an understanding look to each other and shared another short laugh between them.

"Ahem, we seriously got way off track again." noted Ren as he glanced at the clock.

"No kidding. I don't even remember what we were talking about before that happened."

"I think we were in the middle of talking about us sparring."

"Oh yeah, that's right. And it's why we're still here now."

"Indeed, but despite all our distractions and silliness, I've thoroughly enjoyed my night with you so far." spoke the huntsman with a smile. "Have you?"

"Of course I have." answered back Yang with a huge grin. "If I'd known it'd be this awesome hanging out with you, Ren, I would've done it way sooner and more often."

"I'm glad you feel that way. Although, I don't think I would have been able to keep up with all the excitement you would want us to go do."

"That's what makes it so fun. I get to have you try new things you normally wouldn't do. Plus, we got nearly a whole week that we need to spend more time together anyways. So guess what? You get to learn what it's like being with me."

"I'm not entirely sure how I should feel about that." replied Ren while still smiling.

"Well guessing from the look on your face, I think you're gonna enjoy it."

"You just might be right."

"See, like I said before, all we have to do is trust each other and agree on things then the rest will be easy. And hey, I get to learn more about you too."

"I guess I can't disagree with you on that, and I'm sure it will only get more interesting from here on out."

"Good, so do you want to start hitting each other now?" asked the blonde huntress as she pounded her fists together.

"I was wondering when you were going to say that." said Ren lightheartedly as he walked a good distance away from Yang. Once in position, he turned back to face her and readied into a martial arts stance. 'I think she's starting to rub off on me.'

"Finally, we get to the action." declared Yang excitedly as she rolled her neck to loosen it up then popped her knuckles. The blonde huntress soon made her way over to her side of the room directly opposite Ren. They were only about twenty yards apart from each other.

"Just come at me whenever you're ready."

"You better be ready to show me what you got, Teach." joked Yang referencing their banter from earlier.

"Bring it on then, Slacker." responded Ren in a similar manner to his partner.

When she charged, Yang couldn't help herself from smiling as she clashed with Ren.


	12. Planning Ahead

Author's Note: Hello again, it's been quite some time since I last updated this story which is part of the reason why I'm making this note. There are just a few things I need to let all of you know real quick.

First thing is that it will take longer for me to update this story with new chapters. I'm sorry guys.

Second thing is the main reason why it's going to take me longer is because I'm currently back in college so it's cutting off a lot of my writing time (curse you real life).

Third thing is that I write a lot of dialogue and I'm trying to make sure that none of it sounds repetitive but still sound interesting to you guys when you read it. But I'm still my own worst critic so I'm constantly going back and triple checking everything and that causes me to take even longer because I don't want to put out a crap chapter. I hope it hasn't been like that so far but if you want to give any feedback, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Well that was pretty much it. I hope you enjoy reading. 'Til next time.

\- Gray

* * *

Ch. 12 Planning Ahead

Heavy breathing. Tired muscles. Excited expressions. These are just some of the words to describe Yang and Ren as they sparred against one another. Team Sunflower had been going at it for a little more than an hour with only one break in between their combat session. From the looks of it, the two of them were definitely enjoying themselves. Their fighting was a mix of rapid strikes, well placed dodges, and skillful counters. They had gotten so used to the basic moves and styles of one another that they subconsciously formed a rhythm between them. To anyone watching, it would almost look like a routine they had been practicing on. It came to both of them without a second thought and it just felt natural.

'This. Is. Awesome!' Yang thought to herself in between throwing punches. The blonde brawler could feel so much adrenaline pumping through her veins. The excitement was almost overwhelming, almost. She then unleashed another flurry of fists at her partner, only to have all her effort deflected away. 'Wow, I'm surprised Ren's been able to keep up with me for this long. He's got some pretty good stamina. Well at least more than any guy I've ever fought, or done 'other' things with. Which makes me wonder… can Ren go just as long in be—'

Before Yang could finish her thought, the dark haired young man countered with a whirlwind of kicks. Yang's own distraction caused her to take the first two blows from Ren before finally getting back into a position to defend herself from the third strike. She knew because her guard fell for that brief moment those kicks came in pretty good to her side and shoulder. Even Ren recognized this and slowed down his momentum.

"Are you all right?" he asked with a look of concern.

"I'm good. Some nice hits you got in there. But now it's my turn." answered back Yang confidently as she began her counterattack. 'Should probably not think about Ren like that while I'm fighting him.'

Ren simply smiled as he watched the blonde girl charge toward him again. 'Who would have thought that sparring could be this exhilarating?' considered the magenta eyed huntsman as he continued to exchange blows with Yang. 'I certainly never imagined myself enjoying it as much as I am right now. I actually don't think I ever have before. Is it because of her?'

His eyes focused onto his partner's face, analyzing her demeanor. Yang's appearance was nothing but pure joy and radiant enthusiasm, being expressed by a wide smile and bright lilac eyes. 'It's definitely because of Yang.' Ren thought with a smile. 'Her sunny disposition is… contagious to say the least. It's certainly one of the best features about her, among other things.' The moment after he thought it, Ren's gaze slowly moved down without him meaning to. Once again, the huntsman found himself staring at his teammate's chest. He could feel a rush of heat to his head and was sure that his face was crimson in appearance. 'Why do I keep—'

A direct punch to the huntsman's stomach snapped him out of his thoughts. Before Ren had a chance to react, Yang followed up with an uppercut right to his chin. The dark haired young man felt a significant amount of pain from his jaw as he got knocked upward. Ren realized for a brief moment that he was in the air before landing solidly on his back against the gym floor with a resounding thud following. 'Ouch.' considered the huntsman as his mind slowly tried to process what just happened while a throbbing soreness flooded his body.

'Oh no.' the lilac eyed huntress thought nervously. 'Didn't mean to hit him that hard. That looked like it hurt… a lot.' Immediately, Yang rushed over to her partner's side to examine him. "I'm so sorry, Ren. You okay?"

He blinked slowly, looking up at the worried face of Yang. Ren felt the urge to cringe because of the pain but powered through it and gave her a reassuring grin. "I'm fine, no need to worry." responded the huntsman as he began to sit up.

The blonde brawler helped her friend get into a comfortable sitting position when she saw him trying to do this. "You sure about that? Because I got you pretty good back there." questioned Yang as she placed a caring hand on Ren's shoulder.

"I'll be okay, really. You just knocked the wind out of me. And maybe broke my jaw." spoke Ren with the last part in a joking manner as he gently massaged his chin.

"Well you can still talk so I'm guessing it's not broken." joked back Yang. "How about I go get some ice for that and you wait here, 'kay?"

"But I—"

"Nope, just relax. And I'll be right back."

Before he had a chance to reply, the blonde huntress dashed out of the room. Ren simply watched her leave for a moment then soon stood up. 'Guess I'll just wait here then.' thought the huntsman to himself as he continued to carefully rub his jaw. 'That was a very good hit though. I'm lucky she didn't knock me out with that, or a tooth for that matter.' The young man made his way over to his hoodie and used to it to support his back as he sat up against the wall. He then grabbed his water bottle and gladly drank some more from it.

In less than five minutes, Yang had made her return with a couple folded up towels and some type of plastic packet in hand.

"That was quick, I'm surprised you made it back so soon, Slacker." lightly teased Ren as he got back onto his feet.

"Glad I didn't knock out your sense of humor. I could change that for you." joked back Yang as she reached her partner and tossed the towels on top of her hoodie.

"I think it's perfectly fine where it is."

"You sure? Because I have some candy to help out with that."

"Wait, what? What candy?"

"Since you liked the first one so much, how about I give you another 'jawbreaker'?"

Ren couldn't help himself from smiling at the cheesiness of his partner's joke. He then shook his head shamefully. "I walked right into that."

"Couldn't have been more perfect." teased the blonde huntress with a giggle. "Now, stay still for me. This is gonna be cold." With one hand on the back of Ren's head, Yang used her other hand to steadily place the plastic packet, which could now be identified as an icepack, under her teammate's chin.

Ren flinched slightly from the chill of the icepack at first but soon relaxed. "Thank you." he said with a smile.

"Welcome." Yang replied cheerfully. The two stood there just taking the time to catch their breaths and enjoy the coolness of the air conditioning. As she stayed in that position, the blonde brawler couldn't help but notice the way Ren's hair felt. It was so thick and incredibly soft to the touch.

'Wow, he has some nice hair.' If there was one thing Yang knew really well aside from fighting, driving a motorcycle, and making puns, it was good hair and Ren definitely had it. She even considered his hair almost being on par with her own. Yang's thoughts were beginning to make her want to run her fingers through it. 'I wonder if it would be weird if I stroked his hair… just a little bit, like only for a sec. Maybe I should ask him. But that sounds kinda creepy now that I think about it. What if I could do it without him noticing?'

"Yang?"

"Yeah, Ren?"

"I think I can handle the icepack by myself now. Also, I think the back of my head is fine too so you can stop rubbing it if you'd like."

"Oh…" slowly spoke Yang as she felt her face go red while also wanting to mentally slap herself. Apparently while in the middle of her thoughts, Yang's hand acted on its own and she was absentmindedly stroking her partner's head. "Right, you got it. Just wanted to make sure your head wasn't hurt from that landing you did. And you seem to be doing just fine." quickly added in the blonde huntress as she moved away from Ren toward the towels.

"I am, and I have you to thank for that. Well for both things. But I'm grateful for all the aid you've given me."

"Glad to help. And I don't know about you, but I sure worked up one hell of a sweat." Picking up the towels, Yang tossed one over to Ren then used the other to begin drying the perspiration off her as well as help shake away the awkwardness she felt just a moment ago.

Ren kept the icepack on for a moment longer before setting it down to begin drying himself off as well. As he was doing this, a curious thought came to the young man's mind. "Hey Yang, where did you get the towels and the icepack?"

"Oh you know, the trainer's room next door."

"Isn't that supposed to be locked? How did you get in there?"

"Port likes to keep a spare key hidden in the crack above the fire extinguisher. Saw him pulling it out one day when he forgot his own. Lucky for you, because I would've had to go all the way back to the dorms' ice machines if it weren't for that."

"You know you didn't have to do that, Yang. I would have been fine with us just going back to the dorms to get ice there."

"Yeah, but didn't really think about that at the time. Instinct kicked in, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Hearing those words brought on a wide smile to Ren's face. "Thank you for taking care of me then. And I'll try to be less of a burden to you in the future."

"You're welcome and you're not a burden, Ren. Or should I say a 'burd-Ren'." replied Yang with a teasing elbow to her partner.

"You're really pushing for that one, and I think you've reached your pun limit for today." he spoke back playfully.

"Aww, there's no such thing." exclaimed the blonde. "And really, you're not being a bother or anything like that. I don't mind helping at all."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive, and it's because I got used to it with Ruby. When we were kids, she and I would go out and play all the time and I would always take care of her whenever she accidentally hurt herself which happened a lot. Even now she still does."

Yang's remark caused a small chuckle to come from Ren.

"Plus, it was my fault anyways since I'm the one who clocked you."

"You're not to blame, these things happen in combat practice."

"Yeah… but doesn't mean I don't still feel bad that it happened. Sorry again by the way."

"Apology already accepted." the dark haired young man said with a grin. "And if it's alright with you, how about we call it now as the end of our practice?"

"Sounds good to me."

The two friends took a moment to gather up their things, drink some more water, and put back on their jackets. Whenever they finished up, Ren was the first between them to speak again.

"I believe we had quite an excellent first sparring session."

"Oh yeah we did." agreed Yang excitedly. "And we get to do this again every day for the rest of the week!"

"I'm glad you're so eager. But there are some things I would like for us to discuss now before we get to any of that."

"And what would that be?"

"For starters, I would like your honest input about how I did in combat. Be as open and straightforward as you can with me. I want you to tell me what you saw as my strengths, my weaknesses, what are some things I need to work on, and anything else you think would be helpful so that I can improve. And I will be doing the exact same for you as well."

"Okay, I can do that." responded the blonde brawler with a contemplative look. "Anything else?"

"When we evaluate each other, I was thinking we could also plan out some of the practices based on areas where we both need improvement. It wouldn't have to be anything with too much detail, just some suggestions on what we could do for our next sparring sessions."

"Sounds like a smart idea, I like it. So let's have you go first and tell me what I need to do better on, Teach?"

"Sure, Slacker." he said with a smirk. "You're offense overall is great but it does have some weaknesses. You are able to throw several strikes before you need to rest. The weakness in that is if your opponent can block, dodge, or deflect long enough, you'll be tired by the end of it and they can counterattack. Also, your accuracy suffers slightly during your barrage but it's mostly minor so just having more control with your attacks can help with both those things. On the other hand, your speed and power are excellent and really don't need too much improvement unless you want them to. Aside from that, the other two main points I think you should focus on are your Aura and your defense."

"Uh huh, and what should I do with them?"

"Let's talk about your Aura first. Whenever you strike, you expend a little more Aura than what is necessary. I'm guessing the reason behind that comes from your Semblance."

"I'd say you're probably right."

"Well if you exerted more control over your Aura, you could possibly keep fighting longer since you'd be using less of your energy in each strike along with not needing to stop as often. But that's only in theory."

"I do like being able to punch more." joked Yang with a smile.

"And you just might be able to, we'll find out later when we practice again." he replied with a grin. "Finally, onto your defense."

"Kay, what about it?"

"Your defense is fair enough when it's there, but you're on the offensive most of the time so that can cause it to suffer and sometimes be lacking, especially against certain types of attacks. It's the one skill I think you should improve most on."

"Tell me how you really feel, Ren." spoke the blonde huntress sarcastically.

"I'm only being honest, Yang. But despite all that, you're an unbelievably gifted fighter. You defeated me in every match we did tonight and in terms of strength, there are maybe only two or three other students from Beacon who have a chance standing one on one against you. So you should be proud of that."

"Aww thanks, Ren." replied Yang showing off a bright smile to her teammate. "You can keep going on about how great I am."

"Let's see, you like being lazy, you're late all the time, and you've also injured your new partner twice in the past couple days." spoke the dark haired huntsman in a joking manner.

"Those all sound like good things to me. Plus, I kinda like doing that last one." responded the lilac eyed girl as she playfully punched Ren in the arm.

"That makes me so glad to have you as my partner."

"Aww come on, you know you like having me around." the blonde huntress said with a teasing poke to Ren's side.

Ren simply chuckled not wanting to admit what Yang said as being true. "So would you like to evaluate me now on my combat skills?"

"It'd be my pleasure." Yang took a moment to pop her knuckles. "First things first, you need to work on being more aggressive. You like being on the defensive and trying to read what your opponent is gonna do. And you do pretty good with that, but you gotta take advantage of it more by going on the attack sooner. That'll make you harder to read and give them less time to come up with ideas on how to counter you. Plus, combining that with your speed which is incredible on its own would give you an edge early on in a fight and could even help you defeat your opponent or opponents much sooner.

"Point taken, I'll make sure to keep that in mind. What else can I do better on?"

"Next up, you gotta put more power into your hits."

"Like you, you mean?"

"Nope, there's no one else who can do it like me. Everyone has their own way of doing things and you have to do it in a way that's best for you."

"Could you explain that in more detail?"

"You just have to make your strikes feel as natural as you can. It's not that they're bad. Actually compared to how most of the students hit here, they're pretty damn strong. But they feel forced sometimes, it's like you're spending too much time planning out how you're gonna attack next instead of letting your body instinctively do it for you. Just like I told you before about going with the flow, do the same with your strikes by fully committing to them. I can tell you have muscle memory, Ren, so just trust in yourself more and try not to think so much."

"I understand and I'll do my best to follow that. Was there anything more I should do?"

"Yeah, just one more thing actually." responded the blonde brawler as she put her hand up in the air and pointed her index finger out in the same direction.

"What would that be?"

Yang shifted her hand to point at her partner. She then slowly moved her finger forward to poke him in the chest. "Stop holding back."

"I… don't know what you mean." Ren answered back trying to sound confused.

"Yeah you do, Ren. It may not seem obvious to everyone else, but it's pretty clear to me. With how much I know about being in a fight, which is a lot more than most people, I can tell when someone's holding back. And you've been doing that with me."

"What makes you say that?" her partner said with a calm expression.

"I can just tell. It's just something I can do when I'm fighting someone, and I can almost always know what they're feeling. Like when we were sparring, I can tell you were enjoying yourself like I was. But there were moments where you could have easily gotten the upper hand by pressing in on me when I left myself wide open."

'And I just said something that sounded like sex with Ren again… come on Yang, don't think about it like that. You need to stay serious here.' thought the huntress to herself.

"But you didn't. Instead, you just kept staying mostly on the defensive. So I gotta ask, why are you doing that?"

"I…" began the dark haired young man before he stopped to look away. After a moment, Ren then turned back to his partner with a mostly stoic face. "I guess I've just never taken combat against other people seriously. Now, Grimm are a different story. I know what they are like and never hold back with them. When it comes to people though, I'm afraid I would…"

Ren paused again, this time in a more serious manner. His demeanor was one of deep reflection like he was remembering something from his past that he didn't want to.

"Ren? Are you okay?"

The huntsman shook himself out of his contemplation upon hearing Yang's voice. He focused on bringing his appearance back to his usual calm. "Sorry. I was saying I'm afraid I could accidentally hurt someone." finished Ren almost like he was carefully choosing his words.

"Well I understand that, I really do." assured Yang as she reached a hand out to her partner's shoulder. "And sometimes it happens, like what I did to you a moment ago. But you can't let things like that keep holding you back. Otherwise, you'll never get better as a fighter. And that doesn't help the people around you that rely on you as a huntsman to keep them safe or to fight for those who can't. So you need to try to not hold back. It can be hard, but with what I've seen from you, you can do it."

The magenta eyed young man shifted his gaze to look directly at his partner's face. She was smiling that same bright cocky smile she always does, but there also felt like something more to it this time. It felt like belief, like Yang truly believed that Ren could do it. He was awestruck at first, not entirely sure what to say or do until he felt himself simply smile back at her in response.

"Besides, it's not like you have a bunch of Grimm that you can practice on all the time. Well at least not without them always trying to kill you, as opposed to your really good friends and teammates who just want to hurt you." added in Yang as the hand she had on Ren's shoulder playfully pushed him. "Plus, I'm sure none of them are as fun as me."

"You make a pretty valid argument." acknowledged Ren. "I guess I'll just have to go get myself killed by Grimm then."

"You jerk." joked Yang as she stuck her tongue out.

"Don't assume that you can disrespect your teacher like that, Slacker. Without facing severe consequences." answered back the huntsman as he held up his towel like a weapon.

"You wouldn't dare." responded the blonde brawler as she raised her own towel.

Showing off a wicked grin for a brief moment, he swiftly whipped the towel at the side of Yang's butt. A resounding slap echoed through the room upon impact. Yang's face winced from the pain at first before soon shifting into an expression of vengeful mischief. "Oh it's on now." smirked a determined huntress as she prepared to go after her partner.

"You did say I should stop holding back so I'm just giving you what you want." teased Ren as he readied himself for Yang's attack.

"What I want huh? So you wouldn't mind turning around so I can whup your butt then?" asked the huntress as she cracked her towel in the air like a whip.

"Not a chance, you're going to have to earn it." called out the dark haired young man as he began to walk around his partner.

"Making me do all the work, Teach? Hardly seems fair." answered back Yang as she did the same. The two of them were now walking around in a circle only a few feet away from each other, just waiting for someone to make the first move.

"It's either that or you could give up now and accept your punishment."

"Uh huh." Ren's words gave Yang an interesting and devilish idea. "So you want me to bend over for you and take it like this?" spoke the blonde huntress in a sensual voice as she turned her back to her partner then slowly bent down in an evocative manner, making sure her rear was pointed directly at him.

Ren's immediate reaction was his face turning red and his entire body freezing in place. "I, I, I…"

'Gotcha.' thought Yang as she quickly spun around her partner and whipped Ren's butt with a powerful slap of her towel. The hit was so hard that it actually caused the huntsman to grab his behind from the pain of it. "Nuh uh, I'm not done with you yet." declared the blonde huntress as she whipped Ren again.

Luckily for him, Ren made the smart decision to roll forward while being hit by Yang a second time. This allowed him to lessen some of the impact from the towel strike. After getting away, the dark haired huntsman got back on his feet to face his opponent. "Seems we're not done with practice yet." he said while smirking to Yang.

"Nope, sure doesn't look that way."

"We've already gone five rounds, you sure you have enough energy to fight me again?" asked Ren almost cockily. "You just might lose this time."

"Yeah right? Ready for round se… six! Round six! That's totally what I meant." responded the huntress as her face went red from fumbling over her words. 'Really close to slipping there. Can't seem to get my mind out of the gutter when I'm around Ren.'

"Okay… I guess it's my turn to come for you now."

'It just keeps happening, doesn't it? Aww screw it.'

"Come on me whenever you want, Ren." answered back Yang choosing those particular words on purpose. 'And I'm not making it any better, but I couldn't resist.'

"Do what?!" exclaimed Ren as his face went crimson.

While Ren was in shock from his partner's comment, Yang threw her towel over Ren's face then proceeded to wrap him up in it. After she was done, the blonde huntress went for her water bottle then turned her attention back to Ren. The moment he got done removing the towel from his face, the huntsman felt something pull at the back of his pants. "What the—"

Before he could finish his comment, the dark haired young man felt a rush of cold water directly on his butt. He immediately realized that his teammate had poured the rest of her water bottle down his pants.

"Yang!"

"What? I just wanted to help you out with the soreness your butt was feeling from earlier. Also, this'll help cool you down." joked the huntress as she gave him another good slap on the rear before swiftly retreating.

As he stood there with his bottom and the back of his pants soaking wet, Ren came up with a devious plan. "Why thank you, Yang. How about I return the favor?" spoke the huntsman in an almost menacing yet somehow calm voice.

"I don't like the sound of that." replied his partner who was now a good distance away.

In an instant, the magenta eyed young man had gotten over to his water bottle and poured what was left in it on both the towels that were in his possession. Now dual wielding two wet towels, Ren casually made his way toward his partner.

'Oh no. Why did I leave him with both the towels?' thought Yang realizing she had left herself defenseless.

"I believe I got only one to your three." began Ren as he was twirling the towels around. "And that's not including the part with the water."

"We can talk about this, Ren." spoke Yang as she was backing up.

"We're talking right now. Did you want to give some final words?"

"Come on, we can be reasonable. Right?"

"Of course. I'll give you a two second head start. Here's one second."

At this point, Yang knew she wasn't going to talk her way out. She then decided to stop retreating and look to her partner. The blonde huntress gave him her usual bright cheerful smile. "You gotta admit, it was funny though, wasn't it?"

Seeing what she did, Ren stopped twirling his fabric weapons and he gazed back at her. 'Why is she always able to do that with just a smile?' He knew they were just playing around so Ren let his faux menacing demeanor disappear and gave a smile of his own. "Yes it was, and you did get me pretty good. So would you like a longer head start?" asked Ren playfully.

"Aww thanks Ren. You're the best." spoke Yang back in a similar manner. The blonde brawler then turned herself away for one second before turning right back to him.

"Was there something else?" he questioned curiously.

Yang simply brought herself a little bit closer to Ren until she was right next to his ear. She then slowly whispered to him, "You've been waiting all night to get me wet, haven't you?" Afterwards, Yang booped the dark haired young man on the nose before coolly dashing away.

Ren didn't know how to react at all to what Yang had said. He stood there in place with his mouth wide open, feeling like his face was redder than it has ever been before. His mind wasn't even sure how to process what just happened. Although, he did know part of him was imagining Yang in suggestive ways as he could feel a lot of tightness down in his pants.

"Told you I'd get you back." called out Yang from a distance causing the huntsman to break out of his mental stupor.

"This isn't over, Yang." answered back Ren confidently as he sped towards his partner.

"I was hoping it wouldn't be." replied the blonde huntress as she was running away. "Because I'm having way too much fun."

As she glanced back, Yang could see a look of determination in Ren's eyes but he had a playful grin along with it. The huntress was glad she could see this side of her partner and simply smiled as he chased after her.


End file.
